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The former assistant principal of Richneck Elementary School is one of the defendants listed in the $40 million lawsuit filed by Abigail Zwerner, who was intentionally shot in her classroom by a 6-year-old student.
The lawsuit states that Zwerner desires to continue teaching but suffers from physical pain and mental anguish due to the shooting. The teacher’s lawsuit also claims that the assistant principal breached her contract by violating the school’s alleged duty to protect the educator, NBC News reported.
On Friday, January 6, Zwerner was shot by one of her students who possessed a 9mm gun, and former Assistant Principal Ebony Parker is being held accountable for the incident.
Parker was made aware of the woman’s concerns before the incident. The teacher told Parker that the Richneck Elementary student, who was not named, was in a “violent mood,” ABC News reported.
Two days before the shooting, Zwerner said, the boy took her cell phone and destroyed it. A school counselor, whom ABC News identified as them, was brought into the class to assess the situation. The boy used a derogatory name and was suspended for a day.
Former Superintendent George Parker III, who was recently removed from the school board by a vote, and former Principal Briana Foster Newton, who was reassigned to a new role within the Newport News district, are named in the lawsuit.
The boy is neither charged for the shooting nor listed as a defendant in any way because Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn said, “We don’t believe the law supports charging a 6-year-old with a criminal offense as serious as this one.”
The gun used in the shooting was legally purchased by the boy’s parents, who claim their son “suffers from an acute disability and was under a care plan at the school, including his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day.”
The parent released a statement in January saying the “firearm our son accessed was secured,” ABC News reported.
“Our family has always been committed to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of the reach of children,” the parents said.
Richneck Elementary School is a public elementary school in Newport News, Virginia, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students. It is the fifth-largest city in the state. The Black population is more than 44 percent of the city’s demographic.
A source says that Richneck Elementary School has a nearly 47 percent Black student body, with white and Hispanic students making up about 24 and 14 percent, respectively.