A U.S. jury has awarded a substantial $10 million ($15.4 million AUD) to a former teacher, who was shot by a six-year-old student. The verdict sided with her allegations that a former school administrator ignored multiple warnings about the child possessing a firearm.
The decision was rendered against Ebony Parker, who served as an assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia.
In the lawsuit, Abby Zwerner, who was shot in January 2023 while at a reading table in her first-grade classroom, sought $40 million ($61.7 million AUD) in damages from Parker.
Zwerner has since left the school district and indicated she does not intend to return to teaching. She has transitioned to a new career and is now a licensed cosmetologist.
Meanwhile, Parker is facing a separate criminal trial this month, where she is charged with eight counts of felony child neglect.
Parker faces a separate criminal trial this month on eight counts 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’s mother was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for felony child neglect and federal weapons charges.
Her son told authorities he got his mother’s handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mum’s purse.
