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Nearly three months after Virginia teacher Abigail Zwerner was shot by a 6-year-old student, the injured educator filed a $40 million lawsuit Monday. School administrators claimed they ignored multiple warnings from staff and students who believed the boy was carrying a gun and was in imminent danger. threatened on the day of the shooting and did so knowing the child “had a history of random violence.”
Zwerner’s Jan. 6 shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News stunned the nation as police announced the child’s actions were deliberate. shot Zwerner with a 9 mm pistol while he was sitting on a reading table.
Richneck Vice Principal Ebony Parker chose to “breach a presumed duty” to protect Zwerner, according to a complaint filed in Newport News City Circuit Court. violent individuals. ”
Parker resigned after being shot. She could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.
Named as the defendant was the Newport News Board of Education, former school superintendent George Parker III, who the board voted to remove “without cause” and Richneck Principal Brianna Foster. Newton moved to another position within the district.
Zwerner, 25, is seeking a jury trial and says he is suffering “physical and emotional pain” in the lawsuit.
Newport News police praised Zwerner for successfully escorting a class of about 20 students after sustaining serious injuries to his hand and chest.
Zwerner’s attorney said Monday on NBC’s “TODAY” show that school leaders believed the boy had a gun and were told by another student that they had seen it, and at least three separate warnings. said he knew
Attorney Jeffrey Bright agrees that Zwerner’s negligence suit should be a worker’s compensation claim under Virginia law because, in theory, workers cannot sue their employers. did not do it.
But the shooting was an “exception,” he said, adding, “There is no risk of a 6-year-old student shooting a teacher. It’s not part of their job, because they’re not a nighttime 7-Eleven employee.” .
The school knew of the boy’s behavioral problems
The lawsuit cites new details about a six-year-old boy identified as John Doe, as well as suspicious behavioral patterns.
According to the complaint, while at a kindergarten in Richneck during the 2021-22 school year, the boy was expelled from school after strangling and strangling his teacher.
In the same grade, a boy picked up the clothes of a girl who had fallen on the school grounds and complained that she “began touching the child inappropriately until she was reprimanded by the teacher.”
The boy transferred from Richneck and was placed at another facility within the district, but was allowed to return for the 2022-23 school year when he enrolled in Zwerner’s class.
According to the complaint, he was put on a modified schedule last fall for “chasing and trying to whip students on the playground with his belt, and abusing staff and teachers.” Because of the tendency’, at least one parent was required to accompany him to school every day.
“A teacher’s concerns about John Doe’s behavior were routinely brought to the attention of Richneck Elementary School administrators, and the concerns were always dismissed,” the lawsuit states. He would be taken to the school office for the purpose, and would soon return to the classroom afterward with some kind of reward, such as candy.”
warning is ignored
According to the complaint, on January 4, two days before the shooting, the boy took Zwerner’s mobile phone and smashed it to the ground, shattering the device. The boy was suspended from school the next day.
On January 6, the boy returned to Richneck, but his mother was not with him on the way to school as needed.The school did not assign the boy a “one-to-one companion.”
Between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m., Zwerner went to Deputy Principal Parker and said that the students showed up in a “violent mood” and threatened to physically assault their classmates. According to the complaint, Parker “did not respond.” Another teacher said the administrator “essentially ignored plaintiffs’ concerns.”
Meanwhile, another teacher was informed by two students that the boy had a gun in his backpack, the lawsuit said. Thinking he might have seen him stuffing things in his sweatshirt pocket during a break, he also checked his backpack, but found no weapons. I couldn’t put my pistol in it, so I didn’t do anything,” he countered.
The complaint alleges that shortly after 1:00 p.m., a third teacher told Parker that the boy showed a gun to another student during recess, who told another teacher that the boy said, “If you talk to anyone, you will hurt him.” I would,’ he said.
A fourth employee asked Parker for permission to search for the boy, according to the complaint, but Parker told him the boy’s backpack had already been searched and that the boy’s mother would come to pick him up, telling him to has been “prohibited”.
At 1:59 pm, Zwerner was sitting on the reading table in the classroom when the boy drew his gun and opened fire.
Details of the Virginia teacher who was shot
- Parents wonder how Virginia 6-year-old boy shot teacher after backpack was searched
- Before she was injured, a teacher sent a heartbreaking message to her beloved, sources say
- No charges will be filed for 6-year-old boy who shot teacher, prosecutor says
- After being shot, Abigail Zwerner took action: ‘I just wanted to get my baby out’
Potential criminal charges pending
A spokeswoman for the Newport News Public Schools was not available for comment on Zwerner’s lawsuit on Monday. Neither the former principal nor Newton’s lawyer, the former Richneck principal, were immediately available for comment.
Newton’s attorney previously said, “The fact of the matter is that people who knew the student had a gun on the premises did not report it to Mr. Newton.”
The school district previously said it could not comment on allegations against school officials or share information about students’ educational records during its ongoing internal investigation, citing criminal investigations.
The district also said in previous statements that the safety and well-being of its students and staff is its most important priority.
“We will continue to do whatever is necessary to ensure a safe and secure teaching and learning environment at all schools,” the statement said.
Newport News Commonwealth attorney Howard Gwynn told NBC News last month that he would not seek prosecution against a 6-year-old boy because of his age and inability to fully understand the legal system, but that he would hold an adult in custody. He said he was still considering whether to do so. be criminally liable.
The 6-year-old’s family said in a January statement that the weapon was “safely stored” at home and that they “have always been committed to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of reach of children. He said.
The family also said the boy has an acute disability and is receiving “the treatment he needs” under court-ordered temporary custody at a medical facility.
The family’s attorney, James Ellenson, said last month that he “welcomes the prosecutor’s decision” not to charge the boy and that he “continues to pray for Zwerner’s full recovery.”
The Richneck incident is one of the rare shootings committed by a child under the age of 10 in a U.S. school and comes after two Newport News school shootings in the past 18 months.
Overall, according to a June 2022 federal report, the number of school shootings in the 2020-2021 school year reached its highest number in 20 years. A substitute teacher and her three young children in the hands of her 28-year-old former student, armed with two AR-style weapons and a handgun.
Diane Toscano, another attorney who represents Zwerner, said Monday that it was “outrageous” that a first-grade teacher like her client had to assume being shot was part of the job. That’s the thing,’ he said.
“Her future is uncertain,” Toscano said. “She loved being a teacher, teaching her children, but she can’t believe the trauma she’s taken to her.”
Zwerner said in an interview on NBC’s “TODAY” show two weeks ago that she was still in pain and had to undergo multiple surgeries and grueling physical therapy. “Staying,” she added.
She refused to discuss the motives for the attack in detail, but the memory of that moment is etched into her mind.
“I will never forget the look on his face he gave me when he pointed the gun at me,” Zwarner said.
Due to the injury to his left hand, the simplest tasks such as clenching a fist, opening a water bottle, and dressing are still very difficult, and doctors are still unsure if full function will be restored.
“It was so surreal and I have such vivid memories of that day that I don’t know when the shock will go away,” Zwerner said. “I think about it every day. Sometimes I have nightmares.”
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