First-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner’s attorney, Diana Toscano, held a press conference on Wednesday. She announced that the tragedy was preventable. And Zwerner was suing the Newport News Public Schools.
On January 6, first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner, 25, was shot by her student at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News. A six-year-old boy in the Virginia classroom shot the teacher in the chest and hand.
Zwerner was discharged from the hospital last week. And she is between surgeries. Toscano said her client has to live with the bullet ‘dangerously’ lodged inside her body. And that ‘the road to full recovery will be long … and the psychological scars will be lasting.’
Police Chief Steve Drew has characterized the shooting as ‘intentional,’ saying the boy aimed at Zwerner and fired one round which pierced her hand and struck her in the chest. Due to his age, he can’t be charged with a crime. But when he was detained, the child was fighting and insisting he wanted to kill his teacher.
School ignored many warnings
On the day of the shooting, Zwerner went to school authorities to report the six-year-old had threatened to beat up another student.
Toscano claims that three different school employees warned the administration that the child had a gun on the day the Zwerner was wounded.
Toscano says the school administration failed to follow the safety protocols and did not report it to the police.
A source close to the investigation says that Zwerner had heard the gun rumors and messaged her twin sister saying she was ‘frustrated because she was trying to get help with this child, and for this child, and when she needed help, no one was coming.’
One of the teachers warned that the six-year-old had left a boy sobbing after recess. And claimed the child showed him the gun and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone.
Another teacher informed the administration that she had searched the boy’s backpack. And she was concerned the child had concealed the gun in his pocket.
The school administrator allegedly dismissed the concerns. And responded that ‘Well, he has little pockets’.
According to Toscano, when a fourth teacher wanted to search the child’s backpack the school would not allow him to look for the gun that several students claimed to have seen.
Tragedy was preventable
Toscano emphasized that the events at the tragedy was “preventable.” And says the school administration failed to follow the safety protocols and did not report it to the police.
