Teacher suing for $40 million after being shot by her 6-year-old student testifies in civil trial
A teacher suing for $40 million after her then-6-year-old student shot her in her classroom in 2023 testified during her civil trial on Thursday that she wasn’t sure if the child had a real gun until he pulled it out of his pocket and fired it at her.
Abby Zwerner recounted the day she was shot in January 2023 at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, as the last witness for the plaintiff in the ongoing trial.
Her complaint alleges the school’s assistant principal at the time, Ebony Parker, failed to act after being informed multiple times that the student had a firearm on the day of the incident and did not let anyone search him prior to the shooting despite repeated requests.
Zwerner testified she first became aware the student — who is being referred to during the trial as JT — might have had a gun that day was from a reading specialist in the school. The staffer, Amy Kovac, had testified earlier this week that two students told her JT had a gun in his backpack, and she reported this to Parker.
“I knew that she was going to tell Dr. Parker,” Zwerner said of Kovac, when asked by her attorney why she didn’t tell Parker herself about a reported gun in the student’s backpack.
According to Kovac’s testimony, Zwerner texted her that she saw JT take something out of his backpack and put it in his pocket ahead of recess. Zwerner said in court Thursday she knew Kovac would relay that information to Parker, too.
Former Richneck Elementary School teacher Abby Zwerner takes the stand during her civil lawsuit trial, Oct. 30, 2025, in Newport News, Va.
Pool
Kovac had testified that she searched JT’s backpack during recess but did not find a gun, which she said she suspected would be the case based on Zwerner’s text, and she reported this to Parker as well.
Asked by the defense on Thursday if there was at any point she didn’t think JT had a real gun, Zwerner said, “The whole day, I was contemplating it could be real, but it also could not.”
“When you hear the word, he told students he brought a gun with him to school, there is that possibility,” she said.
But Zwerner said she realized the student had brought a real gun when, after recess toward the end of the school day, he took it out of his pocket and shot her. The bullet went through her left hand, which she had lifted, and then into her chest, where it remains. She was initially hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.
“I thought I had died,” she recalled on the stand. “I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven. But then it all got black and so I then thought I wasn’t going there.”
“My next memory is, I see two co-workers around me, and I process that I’m hurt, and they’re putting pressure on where I’m hurt,” she continued.
The civil complaint alleges Parker acted with gross negligence and in “reckless disregard” for Zwerner’s safety.
During cross-examination on Thursday, the defense repeatedly questioned the actions Zwerner did, or didn’t, take on the day of the shooting.
Zwerner confirmed she did not speak to the two students who reported the gun, to JT or to Parker, saying she knew Kovac had spoken to them.
“I trusted Ms. Kovac. She has 20, 30 years of teaching experience over my three, two-and-a-half years,” Zwerner said.
Zwerner also confirmed she did not remove JT from her classroom or search his backpack.
Following her testimony, the defense argued in a motion to strike that the plaintiff had so far failed to establish Parker had an assumption of duty to protect Zwerner from harm that she then allegedly breached through gross negligence.
The judge responded that those are issues for the jury to decide and denied the motion.
“At this time, the court finds that there is sufficient and credible evidence that the defendant assumed the duty of care, breached that care in a grossly negligent manner, and that breach was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s harm,” Newport News Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hoffman said. “That will be all for the jury to decide.”
The defense is scheduled to start calling its witnesses on Monday.
Former Richneck Elementary School assistant principal Ebony Parker in the courtroom during Abby Zwerner’s lawsuit against her, Oct. 30, 2025, in Newport News, Va.
Pool
Zwerner and Parker both resigned following the shooting.
Three other defendants initially listed in Zwerner’s complaint — two school administrators and the Newport News School Board — were dismissed from the lawsuit ahead of the civil trial.
Parker has also been charged with eight counts of felony child abuse with disregard for life in connection with the shooting — one count for each bullet that was in the gun, according to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. A trial on the criminal charges is scheduled to start next month.
The student brought the gun from home, police said. His mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in state prison for child neglect in connection with the shooting, which she is currently serving. Taylor was also sentenced to 21 months in prison on federal firearm and drug charges, which she has since served.
