VA Teacher Shot By Boy, 6, Reflects On Attack 1 Year Later: Report

NEWPORT NEWS, VA — A year after she was shot by a 6-year-old student in a Newport News classroom, teacher Abigail Zwerner said she often thinks about the children she taught and wonders how they're doing, according to a report.

On Jan. 6, 2022, Zwerner was teaching her first-grade class at Richneck Elementary School when one of her students took his mother's gun from his backpack and shot Zwerner, striking her in the hand and chest.

The shot resulted in severe injuries, including a lung collapse.

Zwerner was able to safely get 19 other students out of the classroom before she ran to an administrative office and collapsed, she told The Virginian-Pilot during a round of interviews she did this week ahead of the shooting's anniversary.

Zwerner spent two weeks in the hospital recovering from her injuries. Despite leaving her job as a teacher shortly after the shooting, Zwerner said she would love to see her students again, according to the Virginian-Pilot.

"I just wonder about them,” she said. "I hope that they are enjoying school, enjoying their second-grade year. I hope that they’re still kind to their classmates, kind to teachers. I hope that they still have happiness, and that their happiness wasn’t completely stripped away."

Last month, the boy's mother — 26-year-old Deja Taylor — was sentenced to two years in prison after she pleaded guilty to felony child neglect.

Taylor’s son told authorities he got his mother’s gun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom’s purse. Taylor initially told investigators she had secured her gun with a trigger lock, but investigators said they never found one.

Taylor was also sentenced in November to 21 months in prison for using marijuana while owning a gun.

Zwerner spoke at Taylor's November sentencing, where she said she has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since the shooting and feels like she's lost her purpose.

"My life and once-cherished career have been completely turned upside down. I feel as if I have lost my purpose," Zwerner said. "I loved children, and now I'm scared to have a job involving them."

Zwerner has filed a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News City Public Schools in which she claims administrators ignored multiple warnings that the boy posed a threat. She also alleges school officials knew the boy "had a history of random violence" at school and home, including that he "strangled and choked" his kindergarten teacher.

On Wednesday, Zwerner told the Virginian-Pilot she has no plans to teach again.

"It has a lot to do with the anxiety that comes with it," she explained. "The PTSD that comes with it. The fear that comes with it when thinking about walking into a classroom, or even a school, or (being) a teacher in front of children. … So I know for now, at least, I am working on a new career path. That’s private for now."

MORE COVERAGE:

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• VA Boy 'Really Liked' Teacher He Shot, Mother Says
  
• VA School Board Wants Abigail Zwerner's $40M Lawsuit Tossed
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