A first-grade teacher who police say was intentionally shot in the chest by a six-year-old boy is a 25-year-old heroine who yelled at her students to get to safety.
Abby Zwerner is the preschool teacher who was shot Friday around 2 p.m. in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, can reveal.
She was then hospitalized for surgery. Officials said tonight that Zwerner was seriously ill and no further updates were given.
Police said the boy, who has not been publicly identified, got into an “argument” with Zwerner of Williamsburg before he shot her.
Parent Sebastian Gonzalez-Hernandez confirmed Zwerner’s identity to and also described her selflessness immediately afterwards.
He said “she yelled at her kids to run away” after the student fired a single bullet.
“Even after she was shot, she thought about the safety of her children,” Gonzalez-Hernandez said.
Abby Zwerner, 25, of Williamsburg, Virginia, was shot in the chest around 2 p.m. Friday at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News
Parent, Sebastian Gonzalez-Hernandez, who confirmed Zwerner’s identity to , said “she yelled at her kids to run away” after the student fired a single bullet
His own six-year-old, whose name he did not want to be named, was in the classroom when the gunshot went off.
“My son didn’t see what happened, he heard the shot and turned to see Miss Zwerner lying on the ground,” he told on Friday.
“She is an amazing teacher, so dedicated. My son absolutely loves her and we are devastated by what happened. We are all thinking of her and hoping she gets better soon.”
Zwerner was taken to Riverside Regional Medical Center in critical condition and remains there. She was the only one injured.
Police confirmed that a six-year-old student was the one who fired the horrific shot, but authorities are still investigating how the first-grader managed to get hold of a gun.
“This was not an accidental shooting,” Newport News chief Steve Drew said at a news conference on Friday. “It was in a classroom, there was an altercation. We haven’t had a situation where anyone avoided the school shooting. We had a situation at a certain place where a shot was fired.’
A grandmother of one of the students told that a student brought “shining gold balls” to school last week, but it was unclear if it was the same child who was taken into custody today.
Gonzalez-Hernandez said the 25-year-old was an ‘amazing teacher, so dedicated’
Zwerner was taken to Riverside Regional Medical Center in critical condition and remains there. She was the only one injured
The shooting happened in the classroom and was an isolated incident. Officials are still trying to figure out how the student got his gun
The school (pictured) would be closed on Monday to work on the “mental health of our staff and students”.
The grandmother, who asked not to be named, said the child allegedly “brought bullets to school last week and said he would bring his gun.”
“A parent told the school they didn’t do anything, now look,” she wrote on Facebook.
Speaking to , she said: “Parents outside said their child has told them a child has been bringing shiny gold bullets to school and is thinking of bringing his gun. The student informed the parents, who informed the school. And the school got back to the parents just yesterday and said the kid’s parents said it was a nerf bullet and the parents said nerf bullets aren’t shiny and gold.
She wasn’t sure if the child who brought the bullets is the same child allegedly involved in the shooting today.
However, the school has the ability to use metal detectors to detect students, Superintendent George Parker said at the news conference. They don’t administer the test to every student every day, but said every school in the district can do it.
“If we have a perceived threat or problem, we do random metal detections on those days,” Parker said Friday.
It’s unclear if the school had implemented improved testing following the bullet’s allegation the week before.
“Today our students got a lesson in gun violence,” Parker said. “We must keep the guns out of the hands of our young people.”
A British parent of one of the students, who is currently living in the US because her husband is in the military, is now calling on the city to do something about the gun problem.
“Guns, that’s the biggest problem in this country,” she told WTKR. “Why is there a seven year old with a bloody gun? … How does a seven-year-old get a gun?
“I’m only here because my husband is in the military. Otherwise I would not have decided to come to this country.”
Chief Scott Drew said there was a disagreement between the student and the teacher before the shooting
Carlos Glover, nine, (pictured) was seen leaving school with his mother Joselin after the shooting. A student was taken into custody, but police have not released the student’s name
Crowds of parents waited outside Richneck Elementary School after the 2 p.m. shooting in which a six-year-old allegedly shot his teacher on purpose after an “argument.”
Parker said the school will close Monday to work on the “mental health of our staff and students.”
Police say the incident is no longer an active situation and that it was an isolated case.
A six-year-old schoolboy told the Daily Press the shooter was a classmate.
The six-year-old girl who witnessed the shooting said her classmate shot the teacher “on purpose” and the governor fell to her knees.
A parent of a fourth-grade student said she received a text message from the school saying the shooting had happened and the suspect was in custody.
‘My heart stopped beating. I was freaking out, very nervous. I’m just wondering if that one person was my son,” Joselin Glover, whose son is Carlos Glover, told the Daily Press.
Despite her concern, she said the school handled the situation well.
Mayor Phillip Jones agreed, saying: “The police have done a great job, they were here very, very quickly, along with the sheriff’s office. We make sure everyone is safe, we make sure everyone is accounted for.
The Uvalde Foundation For Kids also commented on the devastating incident, saying in a statement: “Today’s incident underscores again the need for this nation to make protecting our schools, our students and the communities that care for them a priority.
“Again, in another school in this country; Pupils face fear – instead of joy; Lessons in violence – instead of peace. UNTIL these lessons change, our work goes on.”