Civil trial begins in $40 million lawsuit over 6-year-old student shooting teacher
Abby Zwerner attends a hearing for a civil lawsuit she filed against the Newport News Public Schools, Oct. 27, 2023, in Newport News, Va./ (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — A civil trial is underway in Virginia nearly three years after a then-6-year-old student shot his first grade teacher in an elementary school classroom.
The teacher, Abby Zwerner, is seeking $40 million over the January 2023 shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, according to the civil complaint.
The complaint alleges that the school’s assistant principal at the time, Ebony Parker, failed to act after being informed multiple times the student had a firearm on the day of the shooting.
The student took the firearm out of his pocket and aimed it at Zwerner while she was seated in the classroom, according to the complaint. The bullet went through her hand and then into her chest, and Zwerner was initially hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.
Opening statements took place Tuesday morning in the civil trial, which has been scheduled to run through Nov. 6, according to the online docket.
ABC News has reached out to Parker’s attorney for comment but did not receive a response. Zwerner’s attorneys told ABC News they are not providing any comments during the trial.
Three other defendants initially listed in Zwerner’s complaint — two other school administrators and the Newport News School Board — have since been dismissed from the lawsuit.
Parker has also been charged with eight counts of felony child abuse with disregard for life in connection with the shooting — one count for each bullet that was in the gun, according to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. A trial on the criminal charges is scheduled to start next month.
Parker resigned from her position shortly after the incident.
The civil complaint alleges Parker’s administrative style was to “permit students to engage in dangerous and disruptive conduct and impose no consequence for breaking the rules, thereby placing all persons in the vicinity of the school and in the community at risk.”
On the day of the shooting, two students told a school staffer that the 6-year-old student had a gun in his backpack, according to the complaint. When confronted, the student reportedly denied it but refused to provide the staffer with his backpack, according to the complaint.
During recess that day, Zwerner told the staffer she saw the student “take something out of his backpack before recess and place it into the pocket of his hoodie sweatshirt,” according to the complaint. The staffer searched the backpack during recess but did not find a gun, according to the complaint. When the staffer reportedly told Parker the student had “informed students that he had a gun” and no weapon was found in his backpack, Parker “did nothing,” the complaint alleged.
According to the complaint, a classmate told another first grade teacher that the 6-year-old student had shown him the firearm during recess. After the teacher reported this to the school office, Parker allegedly did not allow anyone to search the student for the firearm, according to the complaint. Within an hour, the student shot Zwerner, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges Parker acted with gross negligence and in “reckless disregard” for Zwerner’s safety.
Zwerner said she has undergone multiple surgeries following the shooting, and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression and has nightmares stemming from the incident.
Zwerner told Hampton, Virginia, ABC affiliate WVEC in an interview a year after the shooting she does not think she will be able to teach again due to the “anxiety, the PTSD and the fear.”
The student brought the gun from home, police said. His mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in state prison for child neglect in connection with the shooting, which she is currently serving. Taylor was also sentenced to 21 months in prison on federal firearm and drug charges, which she has since served.
(CHICAGO) — At least 58 people have been shot, eight fatally, across Chicago over Labor Day weekend, including a drive-by attack that left seven victims wounded, according to police.
The violent holiday weekend came as President Donald Trump renewed threats to send federal agents and National Guard troops to Chicago over the objections of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Trump on Saturday sent a warning to Pritzker in a post on his social media platform, referencing recent crime in Chicago and saying Pritzker “better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!”
Pritzker, a Democrat, responded in a news conference a week ago to an earlier Trump threat to “straighten out Chicago, just like we did D.C.,” by saying that the president’s plan was “unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal, it is unconstitutional, it is un-American.”
Johnson responded last week by saying in part that he had “grave concerns about the impact of any unlawful deployment of National Guard troops to the city of Chicago,” and calling Trump’s approach “uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound.” Johnson also said that deploying the National Guard in Chicago could “inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement.”
On Saturday, Johnson signed an executive order dubbed the “Protecting Chicago Initiative,” which he described in a news conference as “the most sweeping campaign of any city in the country to protect ourselves from the threats and actions of this out-of-control administration” and which “directs our department of law to pursue any and every legal mechanism to hold this administration accountable for violating the rights of Chicagoans.”
“We have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our city sees some type of militarized activity by the federal government,” Johnson said, in part. “We take these threats seriously and we find ourselves in a position where we must take immediate, drastic action to protect our people from federal overreach.”
At least 37 separate shootings occurred in Chicago between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday, according to a review by ABC News of police incident reports published online.
The victims included a 17-year-old girl who was inside her home when a bullet came through a front window and hit her in the arm, a 31-year-old man who was shot in the leg after getting caught in the crossfire of gunmen shooting at each other from two vehicles, and two people who shot and injured while driving down a street, all according to the incident reports.
Fewer than five hours after Trump posted a message on social media on Saturday criticizing Pritzker’s handling of crime in Chicago, a mass shooting occurred in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side that left seven people wounded.
“He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!” Trump said in his post about Pritzker.
The shooting in Bronzeville occurred about 11:10 p.m. on Saturday on South State Street, according to police. A group of people were gathered outside in the area when a vehicle drove by and at least one occupant opened fire on the crowd. All seven people shot, five men and two women ranging in age from 28 to 32, were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries to their lower extremities, police said. No suspects have been arrested.
The first of eight homicides that police say occurred over the long holiday weekend happened at 11:56 p.m. on Friday at the South Shore apartment complex on East Essex Street, where two women were discovered shot, according to police.
A 25-year-old woman was found in the apartment suffering from two gunshot wounds to her stomach and one to her leg, according to a police incident report. She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where she was pronounced dead, according to authorities. The victim’s name was not immediately released.
The second victim, a 23-year-old woman, suffered gunshot wounds to both legs and was in fair condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Investigators were interviewing a person of interest in the East Essex Street homicide but no arrests have been announced, according to police.
Elsewhere, two men were shot, one fatally, in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago around 11 a.m. on Saturday, according to police. The victims were standing outside on North Sawyer Avenue when a dark SUV approached them and a gunman exited the vehicle and opened fire, according to a police incident report.
A 29-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was shot multiple times and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to police. The second victim, a 32-year-old man, suffered a gunshot wound to his right side and was in stable condition at Mount Sinai, police said. No arrests have been announced in the incident.
Also on Saturday, gunfire erupted in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood. Around 7:46 p.m., a 43-year-old woman was standing outside on E. 131st Street when five armed men approached her and opened fire, striking her multiple times, according to police. The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to Christ Hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said.
No arrests have been announced in the Altgeld Gardens homicide.
Around 1:39 a.m. on Sunday, a 46-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was killed in a triple shooting that occurred in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago’s Lower West Side, according to police. The victims were standing on West 17th Street when a gunman walked up to them and opened fire, police said.
The two other victims, a 41-year-old man and a 43-year-old man, suffered gunshot wounds to their legs and were in good condition at Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.
Around 2:52 a.m. on Sunday, a 33-year-old man was killed in the West Inglewood neighborhood on the Southwest Side of Chicago, police said. The victim got into a argument inside a residence with a man who shot him in the head, according to police. The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. No arrests were announced.
The violence continued Sunday night as police launched two more homicide investigations.
A 26-year-old woman was fatally shot around 7:28 p.m. on Sunday in the Pullman neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side after getting into a verbal altercation with another woman, police said. The victim, whose name was not released, was shot in the chest and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, according to police. No arrests have been announced.
Also on Sunday night, police discovered a man lying on the ground suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the Little Village neighborhood of southwest Chicago, police said. The victim, who was found on S. Drake Avenue, died at the scene, police said. No suspects have been identified.
At least three additional shootings unfolded early Monday in the city, including one that left five people wounded, including a 17-year-old boy who was in critical condition after suffering multiple gunshot wounds, police said.
Just after 1 a.m. on Monday, police were called to the Oakland neighborhood on the city’s South Side for a report of a large disturbance on South Cottage Grove Avenue, according to a police incident report. Upon arrival, officers followed the sound of gunfire to an area where they found the five shooting victims and four discarded firearms, according to police. Besides the critically wounded teenager, police said the four other victims, ranging in age from 26 to 36, were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
One person of interest was being questioned in the Oakland neighborhood shooting, but no charges have been announced.
Around 11:20 a.m. on Monday, a 48-year-old man was fatally shot in the West Elsdon neighborhood of southeast Chicago, according to police. The victim, who was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police. He was standing outside of a residence when a gunman approached him and opened fire, striking him multiple times in the abdomen, according to police. No arrests have been announced.
The series of shootings came after President Donald Trump said last week that he is prepared to order National Guard troops to American cities in addition to those in the nation’s capital, but that he wanted local officials to request his help.
Trump threatened to make Chicago the next city he would target after he declared what he said was a public safety emergency in Washington, D.C., and he put the city’s police force under federal control on Aug. 11.
Violent crime in Chicago has dropped significantly in the first half of the year, according to official data released by the city. Shootings are down 37% and homicides have dropped by 32% compared to the first half of 2024, while total violence crime dropped by over 22%, according to the crime statistics.
“Do not come to Chicago, you are neither wanted here nor needed here,” Pritzker further said in response to Trump during a news conference last week. “Donald Trump wants to use the military to occupy a U.S. city to punish its dissidents and score political points. If this were happening in any other country, we would have no trouble calling it what it is – a dangerous power-grab.”
ABC News Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
Luigi Mangione, suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, arrives at a heliport with members of the NYPD, Dec. 19, 2024, in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — On the eve of court scheduled appearances for high-profile suspected gunmen Tyler Robinson and Luigi Mangione, a new law enforcement assessment warned of calls for further violence against politicians, business leaders and other dignitaries.
The assessment — prepared by the NYPD counterterrorism and intelligence bureau after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk — said the killing of the conservative pundit last week and UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson late last year stems from the same toxic and violent atmosphere.
“The targeted attack occurred against the backdrop of an increasingly volatile threat environment in the U.S. amid ongoing concerns over the targeting of and violent threats persistently aimed at prominent political figures, CEOs, public officials, and other dignitaries. These individuals likely remain vulnerable at open-air speaking engagements and public events, which have been targeted by malicious actors seeking to advance political or ideological agendas and/or draw attention to unique personal grievances through violence,” the document, obtained by ABC News, said.
“This attack, along with a series of recent high-profile assaults linked to actors with a host of grievances, underscores the continued need for heightened vigilance among law enforcement officers and private-sector security personnel with dignitary/executive protection responsibilities. Rather than aligning with a single extremist ideology, malicious actors may adopt a personalized, hate-filled worldview drawn from a mix of beliefs, amplifying the risk of future attacks by lone offenders that glean tactical/targeting inspiration from prior acts of high-profile violence and find support in permissive online environments,” the bureau said in the document.
Robinson, the suspected gunman in Kirk’s killing, is expected to face capital murder charges in Utah on Tuesday. Authorities have said Robinson may have been “radicalized” online and that ammunition found in the gun used to kill Kirk included anti-fascist and meme-culture writings.
Luigi Mangione, who has been indicted on federal charges in the shooting of Thompson in Midtown, Manhattan on Dec. 4, 2024, is due in a New York court on Tuesday when the judge is expected to rule on several outstanding motions, including defense motions to dismiss state murder charges and exclude certain evidence. Mangione has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors have suggested Mangione inspired other violence, namely the shooting in July targeting the NFL headquarters at 345 Park Av. His attorneys have denied that.
The NYPD assessment said the killing of Kirk could likewise inspire others.
“Regardless of motive, this incident has, and likely will continue to, resonate with a wide range of violent extremists in perceived justifications and calls for further violence. Additionally, the high-profile nature of this assassination will likely be amplified in propaganda messaging and heavily exploited by malicious actors as well as adversarial nation-states in mis/dis/mal-information aimed at fomenting division,” the assessment said.
Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — A fast-spreading wildfire in California’s wine country prompted mandatory evacuation orders as firefighters continued to battle the blaze from the ground and air on Sunday.
The Pickett Fire in Northern California’s Napa County has burned some 6,531 acres since it broke out Thursday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
As of late Saturday night, the fire was 11% contained, CalFire said.
The fire broke out around 3 p.m. local time on Thursday near the town of Calistoga, officials said. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
In an update Saturday on its website, CalFire said crews have been aided during the nighttime fighting of the fire by night-flying helicopters and drones.
The fire is in the same region as the massive Glass Fire that scorched more than 11,000 acres in 2020.
“Leadership with prior experience in this rugged terrain, specifically from the 2020 Glass Fire, has been instrumental in guiding effective suppression efforts,” CalFire said in its update.
The fire comes as parts of the West Coast swelter under a heat wave.
In Southern California, the extreme heat also led to elevated fire concerns, with red flag warnings in place for the mountains north of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.
