The Virginia teacher who was shot in the classroom by a 6-year-old in 2023 said that she believed she had dead after being struck by the bullet.
“I believed I was dead. According to the Associated Press, Abby Zwerner testified that she believed she was either on her way to heaven or already in heaven. “But suddenly it all turned black. As a result, I assumed I would not be traveling there. And then my next memory is of two coworkers surrounding me, and I realize that I’m hurt, and they’re applying pressure on where I’m hurt.”
Zwerner is now suing the former assistant principal of the school she taught at in Newport News, Virginia, claiming she did not do enough to prevent the massacre.
PEOPLE earlier reported that the 6-year-old boy shot Zwerner at Richneck Elementary School in January 2023.
The $40 million complaint says that Zwerner has been in “physical pain and mental anguish” since the incident.
According to the Associated Press, Zwerner has no plans to return to teaching.
“…Abby was shot by a six-year-old student, and she will never be the same,” Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano, said in a statement following the lawsuit’s filing. “She has endured four surgeries and still has a bullet lodged inside her.”
According to the civil lawsuit, four different persons reported the student to the assistant principal, Ebony Parker, and many people saw the gun on the day of the incident.
According to the AP, Toscano stated in her opening statements that Parker did not exercise her power to search or remove the student from school.
Parker’s attorney, Daniel Hogan, encouraged the jurors to avoid “hindsight bias” when deciding this case.
“No one could have imagined that a 6-year-old, first-grade student would bring a firearm into a school,” Hogan told the Associated Press. “You’ll be able to determine for yourself whether or not this was predictable. That’s the crux of this case.”
In addition to the legal complaint, Parker is charged with child abuse in connection with the event, according to Virginia court documents.
According to the Associated Press, ABC News, and The Virginian-Pilot, the child’s mother had already been sentenced to nearly four years in jail for child negligence and federal weapons offenses.
