Abigail Zwerner, the 25-year-old teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old at Richneck Elementary school in Virginia earlier this month, is suing the school board for their failure to act before the incident.
Zwerner was shot once in the chest on Jan. 6 when the student brought a gun to school in his backpack. She is home recovering after her release from the hospital last week.
Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano said on Wednesday that the shooting was “entirely preventable” considering that the school administration was warned multiple times about the child having a gun in the hours leading up to the shooting.
“On that day, over the course of a few hours, three different times – three times – school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees that the boy had a gun on him at school and was threatening people,” Toscano said. But school officials failed to act.
According to Toscano, around 11:30 a.m that day Zwerner told administrators that the boy was threatening to beat up another student. About an hour later, another teacher searched the boy’s backpack and did not find a weapon. That teacher then told administrators she believed the boy had put the gun in his pocket when he went for recess.
Aministrators allegedly told the teacher, “well, he has little pockets,” according to Toscano.
Just after 1 p.m. a boy went crying to another teacher, saying that the would-be shooter showed him a gun and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone.
Another employee reportedly asked school officials for permission to search the boy again but was denied “because the school day was almost over.”
One hour later, the boy shot Zwerner in her classroom.
Police say the 9mm Taurus handgun used in the shooting was legally purchased by the boy’s mother. There are no charges in the case so far.
Text messages obtained by the Washington Post after the shooting shows staffers telling Newport News Superintendent George Parker that Zwerner had raised concerns about the boy’s behavior and sought assistance several times during the school year, including hours before the shooting.
After Toscano’s announcement, the Newport News School Board held a special meeting where they voted 5-1 to remove Parker as superintendent.
“It is important that we state that this decision was made without cause as Dr. Parker is a capable division leader who has served NNPS for nearly five years through some extremely challenging circumstances,” School Board Chair Lisa Surles-Law said. “This decision is based on the future trajectory and needs of our school division.”
Parents, teachers and other members of the community demanded that Parker be fired as they blamed his administration for failing to properly handle “out of control” student behavior, according to the Virginian-Pilot.
Richneck Elementary School, which has been closed since the shooting, will reopen to all students on Jan. 30.
