Nearly three months after Abigail Zwerner’s recovery, a teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student recently filed a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News school division alleging staff ignored her multiple warning signs.
Authorities say Zwerner, 30, was intentionally shot by a 6-year-old student in a classroom with a 9mm pistol on Jan. 6.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Newport News Circuit Court, names three defendants. The first is Richneck Elementary School assistant principal Ebony Parker, who was charged with failing in her duty to protect Zwerner despite many reports that a firearm was on school property, NBC 12 reported.
Zwerner then named former school superintendent George Parker III, who was ousted following a school board vote, as well as former principal Briana Foster Newton, who was transferred to another position within the school district.
Zwerner and his lawyer are expected to say in their lawsuit that he continues to suffer physical pain and mental anguish after the incident, while they await a jury trial.
Newport News Superintendent George Parker III said days after the events that at least one school official had been alerted that the boy may have brought a gun to school hours before the shooting was fired. However, upon reviewing his backpack, they found no evidence of weapons.
In an affidavit, the 6-year-old’s parents said the firearm was “secured” at their home, arguing that the child is acutely disabled and therefore his mother or father accompanied him to class every day. . They noted that the week of the shooting had been the first in which they did not attend class with him.