A jury has awarded $10 million to Abby Zwerner, the former Virginia teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old student in 2023, in a civil trial that could set a precedent on holding officials responsible in the aftermath of a school shooting.
Zwerner, a now-former teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, sued ex-assistant principal Ebony Parker, alleging Parker failed to act on concerns that the student had brought a gun to school in January 2023.
Zwerner was shot in the chest and hand while sitting at a reading table in her classroom.
The jury deliberated for approximately 5½ hours.
Zwerner’s attorneys argued it was Parker’s job to make sure everyone on campus was safe after people raised concerns that a child had a gun, while the defense stressed no one could predict that a child so young would bring a weapon to school and carry out a shooting.
The case could set a legal precedent for who shoulders the blame when children have access to guns and carry out school shootings, which continue to plague the country. As of last week, there were 64 US school shootings this year, 27 of them on K-12 school grounds.
The civil trial also offers a window into some of the key details that will be presented during the criminal case next month against Parker, who faces eight counts of felony child neglect.
Parker’s legal counsel was provided by the Virginia Risk Sharing Association (VRSA), the school district’s insurance pool, according to Toscano Law Group, one of the firms representing Zwerner.
VRSA provides insurance coverage “to Virginia’s cities, counties, towns, schools, and authorities,” according to its website.
Parker’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for VRSA declined to comment when contacted.
Holding civil cases before criminal ones is “really unusual,” according to Darryl K. Brown, a law professor at the University of Virginia.
“I suspect that defense would want the civil trial to go forward first, because they’re not going to be able to avoid it, and it gives them a lot of information about what would come in at the criminal trial,” Brown said.
While Zwerner’s pain and suffering have taken center stage in this trial, the upcoming criminal trial would be more likely to touch on what action Parker failed to take, given her duty to protect children, Brown said.
“The more important evidence for the prosecution would be from other witnesses and sources that reveal what the defendant knew with respect to the threat the child posed, and whether he had a gun,” the professor said.
“Dr. Parker’s job is safety,” one of Zwerner’s attorneys said during closing arguments Wednesday. And she didn’t do enough to thwart the shooting after learning of the child having a gun, he argued.
“A gun changes everything. You stop and you investigate. You get to the bottom of it,” attorney Kevin Biniazan said. “You get to the bottom of that backpack. You get to the bottom of his pockets, whatever it is. You get to the bottom of it to know whether that gun is real and on campus.”
Sandra Douglas, one of Parker’s attorneys, noted during her closing arguments that Zwerner herself did not go to Parker with her concerns over the students, nor did she act on the concerns of others.
The attorney reminded the jury of testimony from an expert, who said school safety falls on all school officials, not just one person.
Parker did not breach professional standards, violate protocols or act with indifference, Dr. Amy Klinger, an expert in education administration and school safety, testified earlier, saying it would have been difficult for anyone to foresee the incident.
“It was a tragedy that, until that day, was unprecedented. It was unthinkable and it was unforeseeable, and I ask that you please not compound that tragedy by blaming Dr. Parker for it,” Douglas told jurors.
Zwerner testified she is still enduring the emotional and physical ramifications of the shooting.
She said she has become withdrawn and distant with family and finds daily tasks – like opening a bottle of water – difficult because of her hand injury.
“I thought I was dying. I thought I had died,” Zwerner said with a catch in her voice during her emotional testimony earlier in the trial. “I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven.”
During closing arguments and in the trial, Parker’s attorneys tried to undermine Zwerner’s testimony by pointing out that the former teacher was able to graduate cosmetology school despite her injuries and attend concerts even though she said she struggled going out in public.
“I’m not minimizing what happened to Miss Zwerner. I’m not doing that … I have to bring the truth and the whole story,” Douglas said.
