NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) 鈥� A jury in Virginia awarded $10 million Thursday to a former teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student, siding with her claims in a lawsuit that an ex-administrator ignored repeated warnings that the child had a gun.
The jury returned its decision against Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.
Abby Zwerner was shot in January 2023 as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom. She had sought $40 million against Parker in the lawsuit.
Zwerner , required six surgeries and does not have the full use of her left hand. A bullet narrowly missed her heart and remains in her chest.
Zwerner did not address reporters outside the courthouse after the decision was announced. One of her attorneys, Diane Toscano, said the verdict sends a message that what happened at the school “was wrong and is not going to be tolerated, that safety has to be the first concern at school. I think it鈥檚 a great message.鈥�
Parker was the only defendant in the lawsuit. A judge previously dismissed the district鈥檚 superintendent and the school principal as defendants.
The shooting sent shock waves through this military shipbuilding community and the country at large, with many wondering and shoot his teacher.
The lawsuit said Parker had a duty to protect Zwerner and others from harm after being told about the gun. Zwerner鈥檚 attorneys said Parker failed to act in the hours before the shooting after several school staff members told her that the student had a gun in his backpack.
鈥淲ho would think a 6-year-old would bring a gun to school and shoot their teacher?鈥� Toscano told the jury earlier. 鈥淚t鈥檚 Dr. Parker鈥檚 job to believe that is possible. It鈥檚 her job to investigate it and get to the very bottom of it.鈥�
Parker did not testify in the lawsuit. Her attorney, Daniel Hogan, had warned jurors about hindsight bias and 鈥淢onday morning quarterbacking鈥� in the shooting.
鈥溾�淵ou will be able to judge for yourself whether or not this was foreseeable,鈥� Hogan said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the heart of this case.
鈥淭he law knows that it is fundamentally unfair to judge another person鈥檚 decisions based on stuff that came up after the fact. The law requires you to examine people鈥檚 decisions at the time they make them.鈥�
Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, said the verdict should put school leaders on notice to act when they are warned about students with guns and other threats.
鈥淚f you have information about a threat to student and staff safety, it is not just 鈥榮ee something, say something,'” Trump said in a statement Thursday. 鈥淪chool administrators and staff need to also know how to 鈥榙o something.鈥欌��
The shooting occurred on the first day after the student had returned from a suspension for slamming Zwerner鈥檚 phone two days earlier.
Zwerner testified she first heard about the gun prior to class recess from a reading specialist who had been tipped off by students. The shooting occurred a few hours later. Despite her injuries, Zwerner was able to hustle her students out of the classroom. She eventually passed out in the school office.
Zwerner testified that day.
鈥淚 thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven,鈥� Zwerner said. 鈥淏ut then it all got black. And so, I then thought I wasn鈥檛 going there. And then my next memory is I see two co-workers around me and I process that I鈥檓 hurt and they鈥檙e putting pressure on where I鈥檓 hurt.鈥�
Zwerner no longer works for the school district and has said she has no plans to teach again. She has since become a licensed cosmetologist.
Parker faces a separate criminal trial this month on of felony child neglect. Each of the counts is punishable by up to five years in prison in the event of a conviction.
The student鈥檚 mother was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for and . Her son told authorities he got his mother鈥檚 handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom鈥檚 purse.
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Raby reported from Cross Lanes, West Virginia.
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