Former Virginia teacher shot by student wins $10M in jury verdict

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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Abigail Zwerner, a former Virginia teacher who was shot by a student, was awarded $10 million in a civil trial Thursday.

Zwerner was shot by one of her 6-year-old students in her Richneck Elementary School classroom on Jan. 6, 2023. The bullet went through her hand and narrowly missed her heart.

The jury on Thursday assessed her damages at $10 million despite the lawsuit in the civil trial being filed for $40 million.

Closing arguments were delivered on Wednesday in the trial against the Newport News School Division and former assistant principal Ebony Parker over the classroom shooting.

During closing arguments, Zwerner’s attorney Kevin Biniazan recounted Parker’s alleged failure to act on repeated warnings that a 6-year-old student had brought a gun.

“A gun changes everything,” said Biniazan. “You stop and you investigate.”

Zwerner’s legal team added that Parker was alerted by multiple staff members about the boy’s behavior that day.

Parker’s attorney, Sandra Douglas, argued she used “real-time judgment, not hindsight judgments” to respond to an unprecedented shooting.

“Your job is to consider only what Dr. Parker knew at the time,” said Douglas.

She also questioned testimony in court, such as how much of a “recluse” Zwerner had become, in the wake of the shooting.

“I’m not minimizing what happened to Ms. Zwerner, I’m not doing that,” said Douglas. “But when someone is asking for $40 million, it’s my job to tell you, there is another side to that story.”

After the verdict was reached, Zwerner’s attorneys spoke to the crowd gathered outside the Newport News courthouse.

“The comments we received in my office, Diane’s (Toscano) office, Kevin’s (Biniazan) office, overwhelmingly were teachers concerned about their safety in schools. And if this doesn’t send a message to the schools of America that teacher safety and children’s safety from weapons is too important to make it a second thought. It needs to be the most important thing schools do — taking care of the teachers and safety of our students,” said attorney Jeffrey Breit.

Parker additionally faces a separate criminal trial related to the case, in which she is accused of eight counts of felony child neglect, with each count referring to the eight bullets that were allegedly in the gun at the time of the shooting. The trial is slated to commence on Nov. 17.