Oct. 30 (UPI) — Former teacher Abigail Zwerner feared death and seeks $40 million from a Richneck Elementary School official in Newport News, Va., after being shot by a first-grader on Jan. 6, 2023.
Zwerner testified in the civil trial in the Newport News Circuit Court on Thursday and said she feared for her life.
“I thought I was dying. I thought I had died,” Zwerner told jury members on Thursday, as reported by NBC News.
“I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven,” she added. “But then it all got black.”
Zwerner sued former assistant principal Ebony Parker and accuses her of ignoring warnings that the 6-year-old first-grader in her class had brought a gun to the school, which he used to shoot Zwerner.
She says Parker ignored several warnings of the boy carrying a gun and did not allow him to be searched despite multiple requests to do so.
Zwerner identifies the student as “JT” in the court filing and said reading specialist Amy Kovac was the first to warn her of the boy potentially having brought a firearm to school.
Kovac earlier this week testified in the courtroom and said two other students had alerted her to JT having a gun in his backpack, ABC News reported.
Zwerner on Thursday told the court that said she was unsure if JT had a real gun until the moment he pulled it from his pocket and shot her.
When asked why she did not report the matter to Parker, Zwerner said Kovac had said she intended to do so.
Kovac earlier testified that she received a text from Zwerner saying she saw JT pull something from his backpack and place it in one of his pockets.
While testifying on Thursday, Zwerner said Kovac was going to inform Parker of the situation.
Kovac searched the boy’s backpack during recess but didn’t find a gun.
As the end of the school day approached, the boy pulled the firearm from his pocket and shot Zwerner.
She said the bullet passed through her raised left hand and into her chest, which doctors did not remove.
Zwerner was hospitalized and treated for the life-threatening wounds.
She accuses Parker of “reckless disregard” and gross negligence in the matter.
The boy’s mother was charged and sentenced to two years in prison in the matter after reaching a plea bargain.
