NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The teacher shot by a 6-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School on Jan. 6 has filed a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News School Board, asserting that administrators failed to keep the school safe.
Abigail Zwerner, 25, of York County, contends the first grader’s alarming past behavior should have led to heightened safety precautions at the school. Instead, the complaint says, Richneck’s assistant principal ignored three stark warnings that the boy had a gun.
Richneck’s assistant principal, Ebony Parker, would not even look at Zwerner when she expressed concerns about how the 6-year-old was acting that morning, the complaint says. Parker wouldn’t allow the boy to be searched even after other students told teachers the boy had a gun.
