A court in Virginia awarded ten million dollars to teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot by a 6-year-old student. The incident highlights the issue of school safety.
A jury in the US state of Virginia on Thursday confirmed $10 million in compensation for a former teacher who was shot two years ago by a six-year-old student. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
First-grade teacher Abby Zwerner, 28, was fatally shot by a student at an elementary school in Newport News in January 2023. She was hospitalized for two weeks with injuries to her arm and chest. Since then, she has had six surgeries and is unable to fully use her left arm. The bullet narrowly missed the heart and remains in the body.
Gross negligence
Zwerner filed a criminal complaint of gross negligence against Assistant Principal Ebony Parker because she said she ignored a warning that a child had brought a gun to school. She demanded 40 million dollars in damages from her. The shooting student’s mother was sentenced to four years in prison for child neglect and failure to secure a firearm. She also used marijuana while in possession of a firearm.
Guns and children
In the United States, accidents involving young children getting hold of their parents’ unsecured guns are fairly common. Shootings in schools by children under the age of 10 are rare, AFP wrote. The database of such incidents by the American researcher David Riedman records approximately 15 similar cases since the 1970s.
