Virginia Teacher Awarded $10M After 6-Year-Old Shooting

A jury in Virginia has awarded $10 million to former teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot by a six-year-old student in her classroom.

The jury sided with Zwerner’s civil lawsuit, which claimed that Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School, ignored repeated warnings that the student had a gun.

In January 2023, Zwerner, 28, was shot while sitting at a reading table in her first-grade classroom. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, underwent six surgeries, and still does not have full use of her left hand. The bullet narrowly missed her heart and remains lodged in her chest.

Zwerner had sought $40 million in damages. One of her lawyers, Diane Toscano, said the verdict sends a strong message: “Safety has to be the first concern at school.”

Zwerner’s legal team argued that Parker failed to act even after staff members warned her about the student carrying a gun in his backpack. Toscano emphasized, “It’s Dr. Parker’s job to investigate and get to the very bottom of it.”

The mother of the student was sentenced to four years in prison for child neglect and firearms charges. No charges were filed against the child, who reportedly accessed the gun by climbing onto a dresser to reach his mother’s purse.

The Newtown Action Alliance, an advocacy group focused on gun violence reform, highlighted that the case underscores the need for stricter firearm storage regulations in homes with children. “76 percent of school shooters get their guns from their homes or relatives,” the organization said.

Zwerner no longer teaches and has since become a licensed cosmetologist. While accidents involving young children accessing firearms are relatively common in the U.S., school shootings by children under 10 remain extremely rare. Researcher David Riedman’s database records only about 15 such incidents in the U.S. since the 1970s.