A Virginia jury recently found that an assistant principal acted with gross negligence when a then-6-year-old student opened fire on his first-grade teacher. The lawsuit was filed over the 2023 shooting. The jury has awarded Abby Zwerner, the teacher, $10 million in damages. The award interest will accrue from June 1, 2024. The verdict came after the jury began deliberations on Wednesday afternoon in this high-profile civil case.
In January 2023, Zwerner was shot in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. Her complaint said that, “ the school’s assistant principal at the time, Ebony Parker, failed to act after being informed multiple times that her student had a firearm on the day of the incident and did not let staff search him before the shooting.”
The verdict, read in court on Thursday, found that Parker did not react at all. Zwerner’s attorney said that they are “very happy with the outcome.”
“I remember just three years ago, almost to this day, hearing for the first time Abby’s story and thinking that this could have been prevented,” one of the attorneys, Diane Toscano, told reporters outside the courthouse in Newport News. “So now to hear from a jury of her peers that they agree that this tragedy could have been prevented.”
BREAKING: A Virginia jury found that an assistant principal acted with gross negligence when a student shot his first grade teacher in a lawsuit filed over the 2023 shooting.
The jury awarded the teacher, Abby Zwerner, $10 million in damages.
Read more: https://t.co/pxAXAnC8OW pic.twitter.com/jPOrffteqx
— ABC News (@ABC) November 6, 2025
When the payment of the damages was in question, one of Zwerner’s attorneys pointed out that Parker is insured under an insurance policy for the Newport News School Board. However, it was also noted that there are pending post-trial motions.
The civil complaint initially sought $40 million in damages, as they have alleged that Parker behaved with gross negligence and in “reckless disregard”. Even after multiple warnings, no one cared about Zwerner’s safety and claimed she continues to suffer emotional and physical pain over the shooting.
The bullet fired at Zwerner went through her left hand, which she had lifted, and then into her chest, where it remains. Police confirmed that she was initially hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. “Those choices that she made to treat January 6, 2023, like any other day, even though a gun should change everything, are why we’re here,” Zwerner’s attorney, Kevin Biniazan, said during closing arguments on Wednesday.
Dr Ebony Parker is now personally liable for Abby Zwerner getting shot by a 6yo student to the tune of $10 million. Abby probably never sees that money, but this is a landmark decision. However, the statement by the judge in the second image does cause me some concern. An on the… pic.twitter.com/ZtVvB2I3UR
— Bill The Conquerer writes stories (@LearningBill) November 7, 2025
Biniazan argued that Parker had multiple chances to investigate and find the possibility of a gun at school. Currently, Parker is said to be playing the “blame game,” whereas everyone had a “piece of the puzzle,” Parker had the “entire puzzle.”
“A gun changes everything. You stop and you investigate,” he said. “You get to the bottom of it to know whether that gun is real and on campus so you can deal with it. But that’s not what happened.” On the millions in damages sought, Biniazan asked the jurors, “What number do you arrive at for somebody who didn’t want this and it’s been inserted into her life like a bullet fragment against her spine?”
“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,” the defense attorney, Sandra Douglas, said.
LIVE: 1st Grader Shoots Teacher Civil Trial, Day 6 | Abigail Zwerner v. Ebony Parker
Deliberations continue in #AbigailZwerner‘s $40 million lawsuit against #EbonyParker after Zwerner was shot by a 6-year-old.#CourtTV What do YOU think?
WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/Ceq3CWlHPS pic.twitter.com/uvysXKdrHw
— Court TV (@CourtTV) November 6, 2025
“I thought I had died,” Zwerner recalled on the stand during her testimony in October. “I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven. But then it all got black and so I then thought I wasn’t going there.”
“My next memory is, I see two co-workers around me, and I process that I’m hurt, and they’re putting pressure on where I’m hurt,” she continued. Parker did not testify during the trial. Two school administrators and the Newport News School Board were the other defendants listed in the lawsuit. However, they were dismissed.
Parker faces eight counts of felony child abuse with disregard for life. One count for each bullet that was in the gun, according to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Her trial on the criminal charges is scheduled to start this month. Deja Taylor, the mother of the student who bought the gun from home, was sentenced to two years in state prison for child neglect.
