Lawyers representing a Virginia teacher, who was shot by a 6-year-old student, informed jurors that the former assistant principal of the school disregarded several alerts about the child possessing a gun. This revelation came as a $40 million civil trial commenced in Newport News.
The trial, initiated by first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner who suffered a gunshot wound from a young student wielding a 9mm handgun in 2023, began its proceedings on Tuesday. This phase included opening statements from the attorneys and testimonies from initial witnesses.
The legal action targets ex-school administrator Ebony Parker, alleging she neglected to respond after being notified by Zwerner, along with the guidance counselor, music teacher, and reading specialist, that the student might be armed. Zwerner is pursuing legal action against Parker, who stepped down following the incident.
“It was beyond anyone’s expectations that a first-grader would bring a gun to school,” Parker’s legal representative, Daniel Hogan, expressed to the jury. “You will have the opportunity to determine if this was something that could have been anticipated. That is the central issue in this case.”
In an undated image released by her family and attorneys, Abigail Zwerner, a first-grade instructor at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, is pictured in her classroom. Police reports indicate that a boy brought a 9mm firearm to school, deliberately shooting Zwerner while she taught her class. (Family of Abigail Zwerner via AP, File)
On January 6, 2023, the young boy drew the gun from his hoodie and fired at the 25-year-old teacher, with the bullet piercing her left hand and embedding itself in her chest.
“1:58 p.m., BANG!” Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano, said in opening statements. “A bullet went through Abby’s hand, then through her chest.” The bullet is still in Zwerner’s body because it’s too dangerous to remove, she added.
Zwerner’s lawyer accused Parker of being grossly negligent because she had several opportunities to confiscate the gun based on the information provided by others.
“She made bad decisions that day,” Toscano said.
Hogan said that decision-making in a public school setting is “cooperative” and “collaborative.” He also warned of hindsight bias and “Monday morning quarterbacking.”
“The law knows that it is fundamentally unfair to judge another person’s decisions based on stuff that came up after the fact,” Hogan said. “The law requires you to examine people’s decisions at the time they make them.”
Ebony Parker was released on bond in Newport News, Va., Apr. 10, 2024. (Newport News Police Department)
Dr. Nina Farrish, the director of human resources for Newport News Public Schools, testified that Parker admitted to her two or three days after the shooting that it was reported around 12:20 p.m. the student had a gun in his backpack. That was more than 90 minutes before the shooting.
Amy Kovac, the reading specialist, was in Parker’s office when Zwerner told Parker the boy had threatened a kindergartner and had been aggressive with a security officer during lunch. Parker never looked up at Zwerner, who had to leave to return to class, Kovac testified.
“She told me I could tell [Zwerner] that she could call his mom at any time to come pick him up,” Kovac testified Tuesday.
When she confronted the 6-year-old, she recalled telling him, “Can I have the bag?” and the boy replied, “No, no one is getting that bag.”
Kovac said she immediately warned Parker, only to be brushed off: “She did say, well, he has little pockets.”
Kovac testified that she pressed Parker again, saying the child might have slipped the weapon into his jacket pocket. Minutes later, after hearing the gunshot, Kovac ran to Zwerner’s classroom.
“I felt like I had a bubble of God around me, and I walked straight to him,” she told jurors.
The boy, she said, stood “with his legs kind of spread open, arms crossed and cocked.”
Kovac testified she grabbed his wrist and restrained him, using Zwerner’s phone to call for help.
“I said, this is Richneck. A teacher’s been shot. I have the shooter. Send help.”
A Newport News police officer directs traffic at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., on Monday Jan. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/John C. Clark)
Another first-grade teacher at the school, Jennifer West, testified Tuesday that a “visibly nervous” student told her after recess that the 6-year-old had a gun on him and he saw the firearm and bullet.
She said she called the front office to report this to an administrator, per protocol, and also spoke to a school counselor about it.
The counselor, Rolonzo Rawles, testified Tuesday that he asked Parker if he could search the child’s person for a gun, and that she responded that the student’s mother would be arriving to get him soon and to wait to check him then.
“I didn’t want to step over any boundaries, so I wasn’t going to check him without permission,” Rawles said.
Newport News, Virginia schoolteacher Abby Zwerner appears in a Newport News, Virginia, courtroom, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)
Toscano argued that Parker had the authority as the assistant principal to act.
“Who would think a 6-year-old is going to bring a gun to school and shoot their teacher?” she said. “Dr. Parker’s job is to believe that is possible.”
Parker faces a separate criminal trial next month on eight counts of felony child neglect, one for “each of the eight bullets that endangered all the students” in Zwerner’s classroom, prosecutors said.
Deja Taylor turned herself in, according to the Newport News Police Department. She was sentenced to two years in prison for felony neglect and federal weapons charges. (Newport News Police Department)
The mother of the boy who shot Zwerner, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in prison for felony neglect and federal weapons charges.
