Richneck Elementary Teacher Shot By 6-Year-Old Speaks Out

More than three months after Abigail Zwerner was shot by a 6-year-old student in her classroom at an elementary school in Virginia, she still thinks about the shooting every day.

“I just will never forget the look on his face that he gave me while he pointed the gun directly at me,” she said in an interview with the Today show that aired Tuesday. “It’s changed me; it’s changed my life.”

In her first public remarks since the shooting on Jan. 6, 2023, at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, Zwerner recalled that the morning started like any regular school day.

“But I started hearing things and things started happening that made my fear grow,” she said, adding that she became more scared as the day went on.

Zwerner’s lawyer, Diane Toscano, previously said administrators failed to act when teachers and school employees warned them three times that the boy had a gun on him and that he was threatening people.

“It was preventable, and thank god Abby is alive,” Toscano said. “Had the school administrator acted in the interest of teachers and their students, Abby would not have sustained a gunshot wound to the chest.”

Newport News Public Schools did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment on Zwerner’s interview.

George Parker, the Newport News Public Schools superintendent at the time, told parents the week after the shooting that the boy’s backpack was searched that morning after someone reported that he might be armed, but no gun was found. The school board voted to replace Parker after the shooting. Parker did not previously reply to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment.

The 25-year-old teacher said she and the children were terrified when the gun was fired.

“They were screaming. I think they knew as well that they had to get out of there but they were extremely frightened and screaming,” she said.

“In that moment, my initial reaction was, Your kids need to get out of here. You know this is not a safe classroom anymore. And then you need to go find help for yourself,” she added.

Zwerner has been widely praised for escorting her first-graders out of the classroom safely despite being injured. Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones called her a “hero,” and the police chief said she likely saved lives.