By: Maria – Paula

Abigail Zwerner, a Richneck Elementary School teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student earlier this month in Newport News, intends to file a lawsuit against the school administration. This is after her lawyer, Diane Toscano alleged the classroom shooting could have been prevented by school administrators.

“This should have never happened. It was preventable and thank God Abby is alive,” said Toscano. “But had the school administrators acted in the interest of their teachers and their students, Abby would not have sustained a gunshot wound to the chest.”

Although no students were injured according to Toscano and police reports, a bullet remained lodged in Zwerner’s body after she sustained gunshot wounds to the hand and chest when the student brought a gun into a classroom and intentionally shot and wounded her. Now in stable condition, the teacher in her 30s is reported to still have a long way on her recovery.

Zwerner, has been hailed as a hero by police, who said that even after the shooting and serious wounding still managed to safely escort her learners out of her first-grade class being the last person to leave the room.

“I believe she did save lives, because I can’t imagine what else would have happened if those kids stayed in that classroom,” said Police Chief Steve Drew.

Police said Zwerner was giving class instruction that afternoon when the student pointed the gun and fired one round at her as she took a defensive position, raising her hand.

When revealing new details about the events leading up to the shooting, Toscano alleged that the school administration was warned four times by teachers and school employees that the student had a gun on him and was threatening people. The student, whose identity is concealed due to his age made several threats to shoot the masses at school that day, but the school administration was viewed as reluctant to act. The boy allegedly took a handgun from his home, put it in his backpack to school on the fateful day before shooting his teacher.

Following the allegations, Newport News School Board called a special meeting for Wednesday at 6 p.m. to vote on a separation agreement with Newport News Public Schools Superintendent George Parker III and thereafter the appointment of an interim superintendent.

Parker has faced heavy criticism from teachers, parents and the community at large since the shooting.

Attorney Toscano laid out a timeline of events on the day of the shooting as follows:

At around 11:15 to 11:30 a.m., Zwerner went to a school administrator and told them that the 6-year-old had threatened to beat up another child that day. The administration did nothing.

At 12:30 p.m. a teacher told a school administrator she searched the 6-year-old’s backpack for a gun and reported to the administration that she believed the boy must have put the gun in his pocket before going for recess. The administrator responded by saying that the boy had little pockets.

Shortly after 1 p.m., a third teacher told administrators that another student who was scared and crying confessed that the shooter showed him a gun at recess and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone.

A fourth employee asked the administrator for permission to search the boy but which was declined and was told to wait because the school day was almost over.

Police said responding officers found a school employee physically restraining the 6-year-old suspect in the classroom. The boy allegedly hit the school employee before officers took him into custody. He was subsequently taken to a local hospital for evaluation, police said.

The school that has since been reopened post the shooting will be outfitted with a metal detector, according to school officials.

As a measure to cab school gun violence incidences, the district officials have secured funding for 90 state-of-the-art metal detectors to be placed in all the district schools after a record three shooting instances in 17 months.