Teacher shot by a 6-year-old student thought she was ‘on my way to heaven.’ What we learned from Abby Zwerner’s testimony

By Cindy Von Quednow, Chris Boyette, CNN

(CNN) — Abby Zwerner instinctively raised her hand toward her heart when she saw the 6-year-old holding the gun.

After the bullet hit her, “I thought I was on my way to heaven or in heaven,” Zwerner testified Thursday during her civil case against a former school official accused of neglecting warning signs the student had brought a gun to school.

“I thought I was dying. I thought I had died,” Zwerner said with a catch in her voice as she recounted the moment she was shot in the hand and chest on January 6, 2023, while sitting at a reading table in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.

The boy’s “blank look” as he aimed at her is a memory Zwerner said she can’t shake.

Zwerner has filed a $40 million lawsuit against ex-assistant principal Ebony Parker, saying Parker failed to act when several people approached her with concerns the boy had brought a gun to school.

Parker also faces eight counts of felony child neglect in the criminal trial against her next month.

The case offers a window into what to expect for the upcoming criminal trial against Parker. Both trials raise questions about who is responsible when children with access to guns carry out school shootings, a pervasive problem across the country.

As of Monday, there have been 64 school shootings in the United States this year, 27 of which took place on K-12 school grounds.

Here’s what we learned from Zwerner’s moving and highly anticipated testimony.

Effects of shooting linger

Zwerner’s devastating hand injury has left her unable to do everyday things like open a bottle of water.

“I was trying to open the bag of chips on my own multiple times, different ways — trying to hold it different ways,” she testified about a recent lunch with her attorney. “And I eventually asked you to open it.”

Even after six surgeries, Zwerner’s hand will never be normal, an orthopedic surgeon testified this week.

Previous testimony from doctors on her care team revealed Zwerner’s injuries were life-threatening after a bullet narrowly missed her heart. And the impacts extended beyond the physical damage, she testified.

Zwerner struggled to describe how she now feels around people, even loved ones, but indicated she feels a “distance” and “numbness.”

Psychiatrist Dr. Clarence Watson testified Thursday Zwerner has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after the shooting.

“She has lost the sense of being safe, something that she had not experienced before, even when she was feeling depressed or anxious … She now doesn’t want to go anywhere,” Watson said. “She had become socially withdrawn and isolated, pulled away from friends, didn’t want to be in public as much, and felt fear in places that she didn’t feel fear before.”

Even a planned outing to the movies to see “Hamilton,” which features a duel scene with guns, became an overwhelming task that left her in tears, Zwerner said.

When her mother asked her what she wanted to do instead, she felt resigned.

“I remember saying or telling them, ‘nowhere, like I can’t go anywhere. I just want to stay home,’” Zwerner said.

Defense tries to undercut teacher’s testimony

During cross-examination Thursday, an attorney for Parker worked to undermine Zwerner’s claims that the shooting has limited her willingness to go out in public.

The attorney presented evidence Zwerner had been emotionally ready to attend concerts since the shooting, including the Taylor Swift Eras tour.

The attorney also sought to undermine claims Zwerner is physically hindered by her wounds, asking Zwerner how she successfully attended and graduated from cosmetology school, worked and frequented a gym if she had physical limitations.

Zwerner was proud of graduating but was often in pain, she said. She has yet to get a job in cosmetology and can’t work in the field until her hand heals from her latest surgery, she said.

Additionally, her doctor had cleared her to do light workouts and she tried her best to do that with weights, Zwerner testified.

The defense also pressed Zwerner on whether there was more she could have done after learning of the possible gun threat.

Another school staffer told her about the boy potentially having a gun and she did not inform Parker because she knew the other staffer was going to, Zwerner testified.

Parker’s attorneys are trying to paint a picture that Zwerner may have been “a little bit at fault” for not acting on information that she had, said Darryl K. Brown, a law professor at the University of Virginia.

“That can be the basis for the defendant not being held negligent and having to pay damages, even if the defendant is more at fault, or mostly at fault,” Brown said.

What’s next

The jury will reconvene Monday morning in the ongoing civil trial — which could be a roadmap for what’s to come with the criminal litigation against Parker.

Holding civil cases before criminal ones is “really unusual,” Brown said. It may be because Parker waived her right to a speedy trial, and because the defense wants it that way, he added.

“I suspect that defense would want the civil trial to go forward first, because they’re not going to be able to avoid it, and it gives them a lot of information about what would come in at the criminal trial,” Brown said.

While Zwerner’s pain and suffering have taken center stage in this trial, the upcoming criminal trial would be more likely to touch on what action Parker failed to take, given her duty to protect children, Brown said.

“The more important evidence for the prosecution would be from other witnesses and sources that reveal what the defendant knew with respect to the threat the child posed, and whether he had a gun,” the professor said.

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