Bodycam shows the aftermath of a 6-year-old shooting a teacher, Abby Zwerner, at Newport News school
By: -----
Newport News, VA - New body camera footage shows the immediate aftermath of the shooting of Newport News teacher Abby Zwerner by a 6-year-old student in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School.
The video, which was shown to jurors during the ongoing civil trial in Newport News, captures paramedics working to save Zwerner’s life on the scene. The shooting at the school happened on Jan. 6, 2023. Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit, claiming negligence on the part of school officials.
Part of the body camera footage shown in court can be viewed in the video report at the top of this page.
Zwerner’s attorneys argue that former assistant principal Ebony Parker was warned about the possibility of the student having a weapon but failed to act appropriately. This claim was part of the arguments presented during the trial.
In court Wednesday, jurors also got to see images of the gun the 6-year-old used and photos of the classroom where the Richneck Elementary School shooting happened.
The trial has seen testimony from various witnesses, including school staff and Zwerner’s mother. Witnesses have recounted the events leading up to and following the shooting, with a focus on the actions of school officials.
On the day of the shooting, several staff members allegedly informed Parker about the potential threat posed by the student. Despite these warnings, Zwerner’s team claims that adequate measures were not taken to prevent the incident.
During the trial, the jury has heard from the director of Human Resources and a reading specialist who was among the first responders to the classroom. The testimony is part of Zwerner’s effort to establish the school’s liability in the case.
The mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher was sentenced to two years in prison for felony child neglect, nearly a year after her son used her gun to critically wound the educator.
The state sentence she received from Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile was stiffer than what is called for in state sentencing guidelines and harsher than a joint sentencing recommendation of six months prosecutors and Taylor's lawyers had agreed to in a plea deal.
Taylor was sentenced in November to 21 months in federal prison for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. The combination of her state and federal sentences amounts to a total punishment of nearly four years behind bars.
Taylor's son told authorities he got his mother's 9mm handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom's purse. He concealed the weapon in his backpack and then his pocket before shooting his teacher, Abby Zwerner, in front of her first-grade class.
Taylor initially told investigators she had secured her gun with a trigger lock, but investigators said they never found one.
Taylor pleaded guilty earlier this year to the felony neglect charge. As part of that plea deal, local prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing a firearm.
Taylor also pleaded guilty to the federal marijuana-weapons charge. Investigators had found nearly an ounce of marijuana in Taylor's bedroom following the shooting.
The bullet fired from Taylor's gun struck Zwerner in the left hand and her upper left chest, breaking bones and puncturing a lung. The teacher rushed her other students into the hallway before collapsing in the school's office.