Former Richneck Elementary School teacher Abby Zwerner looks back into the courtroom during her civil lawsuit trial, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Newport News, Va. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, Pool)
TWO TEACHERS SAY VIRGINIA SCHOOL IGNORED WARNINGS BEFORE 6-YEAR-OLD SHOT EDUCATOR
Zwerner also recalled the chilling moment she locked eyes with the boy just before the gun went off.
"It was a blank look," she said. "But it wasn’t a blank look at all."
Now, nearly two years later, Zwerner said she still struggles with simple physical tasks. Over lunch with her attorney, she remembered trying to open a small bag of potato chips, tugging at it from several angles before giving up.
"I eventually asked you to open it," she told her lawyer on the stand. "It’s the same thing with water bottles."
This week, jurors reviewed police body-camera footage showing the first officers arriving at the elementary school moments after the shooting. The video captures paramedics working to save Zwerner’s life on the scene.
In the recording, an officer can be heard calling for medics as Zwerner struggles to breathe.
"You're going to be okay," a paramedic is heard telling Zwerner.
The educator, who appeared pale in the body-camera footage with a pained expression on her face, is seen carried out on a stretcher.
Newport News Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hoffman sidebars with attorneys during former Richneck Elementary School teacher Abby Zwerner's civil lawsuit against the former assistant principal of the school where Zwerner was shot, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Newport News, Va. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, Pool)
Former Richneck Elementary School assistant principal Ebony Parker looks back into the courtroom during Abby Zwerner's lawsuit against her Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Newport News, Va. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, Pool)
felony child neglect, one for "each of the eight bullets that endangered all the students" in Zwerner’s classroom, prosecutors said.
The mother of the boy who shot Zwerner, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in prison for felony neglect and federal weapons charges.
