Abby Zwirner, 28, was shot while sitting in her first-grade classroom in 2023, sustaining life-threatening injuries.
Published November 7, 2025
A jury in Virginia has awarded $10 million in damages to a former teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student.
A jury on Thursday upheld former teacher Abby Zwirner’s claims in a civil lawsuit that the school’s former administrators ignored repeated warnings that her 6-year-old had a gun in class.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Zwerner, 28, was shot while sitting at a reading table in his first-grade classroom in January 2023, was hospitalized for nearly two weeks, required six surgeries, and still does not have full use of his left hand.
The bullet fired by the 6-year-old girl narrowly missed her heart and remains lodged in her chest.
Zwirner, who did not speak to reporters outside the courtroom after the verdict was announced, was seeking $40 million in damages from Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at Rich Neck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia.
One of her attorneys, Diane Toscano, said the ruling sent a message that what happened at the school was “wrong and unacceptable. Safety must be the number one consideration at schools.”
Zwerner’s lawyers had argued that Parker, who was assistant principal at the time, failed to act after several school employees told him hours before the shooting that “a student had a gun in his backpack.”
“Who could imagine a 6-year-old kid bringing a gun to school and shooting his teacher?” Toscano previously asked jurors.
“It’s Dr. Parker’s job to believe that it’s possible. It’s her job to investigate it and get to the bottom of it.”
Parker did not testify in the lawsuit.
The mother of the student who shot and killed Zwerner was found guilty of child neglect and firearms charges and sentenced to four years in prison.
The child was not charged, but the child told authorities that he climbed into a dresser drawer to get his mother’s handgun and that the gun was in his mother’s purse.
Newtown Action Alliance, an advocacy group that supports reforms aimed at combating gun violence, said the incident showed the need for tighter regulations on firearm storage in homes with children.
“Abby Zwirner was shot by a 6-year-old student using a gun from her home,” the group said in a social media post, adding, “76% of school shooters obtain their guns from their homes or relatives.”
Abby Zwirner was shot and killed in her home by a 6-year-old student.
76% of school shooters obtain guns at home or from relatives.
Urge your legislators to co-sponsor Ethan’s Law.
Council Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 #SafeStorageSavesLives #EndGunViolence pic.twitter.com/YZyuo0KxXj
— Newtown Action Alliance (@NewtownAction) November 6, 2025
Zwerner no longer works for the district and said she has no plans to teach again. Later, she became a certified cosmetologist.
Although young children accessing unsecured firearms in their homes is common in the United States, school shootings by children under 10 are rare.
A database compiled by American researcher David Liedman lists about 15 such incidents since the 1970s.
