A jury in Virginia has awarded $10 million to former first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot while seated at a classroom reading table in January 2023 by a six-year-old student.
Zwerner, 28 at the time, suffered life-threatening injuries, spent nearly two weeks in hospital and underwent six surgeries. The bullet narrowly missed her heart, remains lodged in her chest and she has not regained full use of her left hand.
In the civil trial, Zwerner had sought $40 million in damages from Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, alleging Parker ignored repeated staff warnings that the child had brought a gun to school. The jury found in Zwerner’s favor and awarded $10 million.
Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano, said the verdict underscored that schools must make safety their first priority. Zwerner’s legal team argued Parker failed to investigate or act on reports earlier the same day that the student had a firearm in his backpack; Parker did not testify during the lawsuit.
The child’s mother was later convicted on child neglect and firearms charges and sentenced to four years in prison. Authorities said the boy obtained the handgun from his mother’s purse on top of a dresser after climbing on a drawer. No criminal charges were filed against the child.
Advocacy groups pointed to the case as evidence of the need for stronger safe-storage rules for firearms in homes with children. Newtown Action Alliance noted that a large share of school shooters obtain guns from their homes or relatives and urged lawmakers to back safe-storage legislation.
Zwerner has since left the school district, has said she does not plan to teach again, and became a licensed cosmetologist.
While accidental shootings by young children who find unsecured firearms in the home are not uncommon in the United States, shootings by children under 10 remain rare. A database compiled by researcher David Riedman records roughly 15 such incidents since the 1970s, illustrating how exceptional this case was.