Copyright KRDO
By Cindy Von Quednow, CNN (CNN) — Final arguments will be made Wednesday in the $40 million lawsuit filed by a former Virginia teacher shot by her 6-year-old student in a case that could set a dramatic precedent for who to blame after school shootings. Abby Zwerner is suing Ebony Parker, the former assistant principal accused of neglecting to act when people raised concerns about the student having a gun in January 2023 at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News. Parker’s attorneys have argued no one could fathom a child so young would bring a gun to school and carry out a shooting. “You will be able to judge for yourself whether or not this was foreseeable. That’s the heart of this case,” said Parker’s attorney, Daniel Hogan, the Associated Press reported. At the center of the lawsuit is who gets 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 to 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. Filing charges against school officials in the aftermath of a school shooting is rare. Injured teacher shared emotional testimony Zwerner described the physical and emotional consequences wrought by the shooting. After she was shot in the chest and hand while sitting at a reading table, Zwerner thought she had died and gone to heaven. “I thought I was dying. I thought I had died,” she testified last week. The teacher now says she’s more reserved and sometimes gets overwhelmed at the thought of going out in public. Zwerner’s twin sister, Hannah, also testified how Abby’s demeanor changed after the shooting: She was full of light, outgoing and silly, but now “she’s just not the person that she was,” Hannah said during her emotional testimony. Zwerner has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after the shooting, psychiatrist Dr. Clarence Watson testified last week. And Zwerner’s devastating hand injury has left her unable to perform daily activities. Despite six surgeries, Zwerner’s hand will never be normal, an orthopedic surgeon testified earlier in the trial. Previous testimony from doctors on her care team revealed Zwerner’s injuries were life-threatening after a bullet narrowly missed her heart. And the impacts extended beyond the physical damage, she testified. During cross-examination, an attorney for Parker worked to undermine Zwerner’s claims the shooting had limited her willingness to go out in public, saying she was emotionally ready to attend concerts like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The attorney also sought to undermine claims Zwerner is physically hindered by her wounds, asking how she successfully attended and graduated from cosmetology school, worked and frequented a gym if she had physical limitations. Assistant principal did not act with indifference, expert testifies An expert for the defense testified Monday the assistant principal did not breach professional standards or act with indifference. Dr. Amy Klinger, an expert in education administration and school safety, said it would have been difficult for anyone to foresee the incident and testified the assistant principal’s role is collaborative and school safety is a shared responsibility among all staff. “No one is the sole person responsible for school safety,” she said. Parker did not breach professional standards or act with indifference, Klinger said, and it would have been difficult for anyone to foresee the incident. This case could set a precedent for future events, said Darryl K. Brown, a law professor at the University of Virginia, adding the civil trial could be a “dry run” for what’s to come in the criminal case. “Everyone on both sides the prosecution and the defense should have a very clear idea of what the evidence is going to be and what the witnesses are going to say,” the professor said. The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. CNN’s Chris Boyette contributed to this report.
