It’s been almost three weeks since first grade teacher Abigail Zwerner was shot by a six-year-old student in her class at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. Zwerner has, thankfully, been released from the hospital, and she is now suing the school district for what her lawyer described as the school administration’s apathetic response to learning the student had a gun and was making threats. Administrators were allegedly warned of the threat three times in the hours leading up to the shooting, but failed to take action to protect the school community.
Zwerner’s lawyer, Diane Toscano, said in a press conference yesterday that various teachers and school employees had gone to the administration on the day of the shooting, January 6, with concerns that the unnamed student had a gun and was threatening to use it. Toscano alleges school administrators “could not be bothered” to take action.
Zwerner herself first alerted school authorities to the threat that day at 11:15 a.m., stating that the boy had threatened to beat up a fellow student. Nothing was done.
An hour later, a second teacher approached an administrator and said she had searched the boy’s school bag for the gun, but wasn’t able to locate it. The teacher feared the student had it in his pants pocket before going to out to recess. According to Toscano, “The administrator downplayed the report from the teacher and the possibility of a gun, saying — and I quote — ‘Well, he has little pockets.'”
Just after 1 p.m., a third teacher relayed to administrators that a different student was “crying and fearful” after the boy showed him the gun and threatened to hurt him if he told anyone. For a third time, said Toscano, no action was taken to avoid the tragedy. A school employee who subsequently offered to search the boy to locate the gun was turned down, apparently being “told to wait the situation out because the school day was almost over.”
During this time, Zwerner apparently texted family members about her concern for the safety of her classroom. “She was frustrated because she was trying to get help with this child, for this child, and then when she needed help, no one was coming,” a source told NBC News.
About an hour after the request to search the boy was denied, the student shot Zwerner in the chest and in one hand. Despite her serious injuries, Zwerner was able to lead her students out of the classroom to safety. Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said her actions saved lives “because I don’t know what else might have happened if those kids would have stayed in that room.”
It’s still unclear how the boy was able to get his hands on the gun, with his family saying:
Our family has always been committed to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of the reach of children. The firearm our son accessed was secured.
As the investigation into the incident continues, one of the school’s assistant principals, Dr. Ebony Parker, resigned, although it’s unclear if she’s the one who downplayed the seriousness of the situation. The Newport News School board voted to fire George Parker III, the school district’s superintendent, George Parker III, after he was heavily criticized by parents and teachers following the shooting.
None of this makes right the fact that police were not called, and the school was never put into lockdown despite the known threat; common sense protections that every school administrator should have known to put in place to avoid what happened weren’t. Abigail Zwerner, as she continues to recover from her physical and psychological injuries, deserves answers and justice must be served to the school administrators whose ineptitude led to the shooting. In the words of lawyer Toscano, “Were they not so paralyzed by apathy, they could have prevented this tragedy.”