The Virginia teacher who was shot dead in her classroom by a six-year-old student revealed she is reliving the “terrifying” look on the boy's face when he shot her.
Abby Zwerner was shot in the hand on January 6, 2023 at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia.
A year after the shooting, the former teacher, who now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, said the moment she went back to that fateful day was seeing the child's face as he pulled the trigger.
The 26-year-old also revealed that fragments of the bullet are still lodged in her upper left chest, where the bullet entered her body through her hand.
“The same thing that caught my eye is the look on the student's face when he pulled the gun out and pointed it directly at me,” Zwerner told KSN.
Virginia teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot dead by a six-year-old student, has admitted she is reliving the “terrible” look on the boy's face when he shot her
Abigail Zwerner, 25, (pictured) was shot and killed by her six-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School in January
“That look – and the look after the gun was fired.” Traumatic. Terrible.'
“I still have a bullet – bullet fragments – left in my upper left chest and, you know, still some scars that won't go away either.”
The child took his mother's 9mm pistol from his mother's purse at home.
Deja Nicole Taylor, 25, was charged with child neglect and sentenced to two years in prison.
Taylor previously pleaded guilty to using marijuana while in possession of a gun and was sentenced to 21 months in prison in November for the weapons crime.
She is also forbidden from having contact with her child until they are 18 years old.
Zwerner explained how recording the impact changed the course of her life.
“I was progressing in my career and was looking forward to continuing my career year after year, but then it just stopped,” she said.
Zwerner was shot as she sat at a reading table in the classroom
Deja Nicole Taylor, 25, (pictured) faces up to five years in prison for child neglect after her son shot and killed his first-grader
Deja Taylor was seen arriving at the federal courthouse for an earlier hearing in Virginia Beach, Virginia on June 12, 2023
Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, where the shooting occurred
“Basically, I had to sit back and watch all my friends move on with their careers and their lives, and I feel like I've had setbacks – but not fair setbacks.”
Adding: “I live with trauma in my life now.” I live with PTSD and that changes people.
“No matter what horror a person may go through, it always remains with him, and I know that he will always remain with me.”
On the day of the shooting, the six-year-old was dropped off at school by his mother.
He hid the gun in his backpack and then in his pocket before shooting his teacher in front of the class.
In the morning he told the other children that he had a gun in his backpack and the staff was also informed about it.
Instead of taking him out of class, school administrators allowed him to be with other children and teachers.
They checked his backpack for a gun, but he had already taken it out and put it in his sweatshirt, according to a lawsuit Zwerner later filed.
Abby Zwerner is suing Newport News Public Schools for $40 million, accusing the school board of gross negligence
Zwerner's lawyers argue that school administrators were grossly negligent and ignored reports that the child had a gun in his backpack
After the shooting, Zwerner filed a lawsuit against the school district, seeking $40 million
She is suing Newport News Public Schools for $40 million, accusing the school board of gross negligence.
Zwerner said the administration ignored multiple warnings that the boy had a gun that day and routinely dismissed ongoing concerns about his troubling behavior.
The vice principal forbade teachers from searching the boy themselves, the lawsuit says.
At 1:59 p.m. he pulled the gun out of his sweater and shot Zwerner in the chest. The bullet first hit one of her hands – which she said saved her life.
Shortly after the shooting, the 6-year-old told a reading specialist who was restraining him, “I shot that (expletive)” and “I got my mom's gun last night,” the search warrants say.
In April, she filed a lawsuit against the school board and some teachers for not doing more to protect her and others from the child. The 20-page lawsuit describes the boy's past behavior in disturbing detail.
“John Doe was expelled from school during the 2021-2022 school year when he was in kindergarten after strangling and choking a teacher,” the lawsuit states.
“Also during the 2021-2022 school year, a female child had fallen on the playground and John Doe approached her, pulled up her dress and began touching the child inappropriately until he was reprimanded by a teacher,” it said.
Two days earlier, the same boy had smashed her phone and called her a “bitch.”
A year before the shooting, the boy was so troublesome that he was removed from school after attempting to choke another teacher and was required to be supervised by a parent every day.