Abigail Zwerner, the first-grade teacher shot and injured by a 6-year-old student in January, filed a lawsuit on Monday against several school officials at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, for gross negligence and failure to heed warnings from the teacher that the student had a gun.
During her appearance on NBC’s “Today” show at the end of March, Zwerner said that after several surgeries and weeks in the hospital, she still has bullet fragments lodged in her body and probably always will.
“I just will never forget the look on his face that he gave me while he pointed the gun directly at me,” she told “Today.”
The school’s former principal Briana Foster-Newton, former assistant principal Ebony Parker, the Newport News School Board and former superintendent George Parker III were all named as defendants in the lawsuit filed by Zwerner on Monday for negligence, per The Associated Press.
“The Newport News school division had a duty to Abby,” Zwerner’s lawyer, Diane Toscano, told the Wall Street Journal. “But they failed her miserably that day.”
On Jan. 6, the day of the shooting, the lawsuit claims that three students reported to teachers and staff that the boy — who remains unnamed — had a gun, and Zwerner told Parker that he was in a “violent mood,” reported the Wall Street Journal. According to the lawsuit, the boy had choked his kindergarten teacher the year before and had smashed Zwerner’s cell phone just days before the incident.
“Teachers’ concerns with John Doe’s behavior (were) regularly brought to the attention of Richneck Elementary School administration, and the concerns were always dismissed,” the lawsuit states, per the AP. After he was taken to the office, “he would return to class shortly thereafter with some type of reward, such as a piece of candy,” it states.
In response to two students reporting the boy had a gun, a guidance counselor named Amy Kovac asked to see the boy's backpack, which he refused, reported the AP. She then searched his backpack during recess and found nothing. Zwerner said that he had taken something out and put something in his sweatshirt pocket before leaving the classroom.
Zwerner expressed her concerns to assistant principal Parker, who, the lawsuit states, “had no response, refusing even to look up at (Zwerner) when she expressed her concerns,” reported the AP.
“As the day grew on,” Zwerner told the “Today” show afterward, “my fear grew more.”
After recess, a third student told another teacher about the gun, saying the boy had shown it to him at recess, per the AP, and soon after, Zwerner was shot through her hand and into the chest.
“We of course continue to pray for Ms. Zwerner’s complete recovery,” said James Ellenson, the legal counsel for the boy’s family, per the AP. “In that there is still the potential for criminal charges, there is no further comment.”