A former Virginia school teacher who was gunned down by one of her first-grade students last year said in a series of interviews with local media that she still worries about other students and wonders how they are doing. He said he is doing so.
“I hope they're enjoying school and enjoying their sophomore year,” Abby Zwirner, 26, told The Virginian-Pilot. Before the January 6th anniversary of the incident. “I hope they are still kind to their classmates and kind to their teachers. I hope they still have happiness and that their happiness is not completely taken away.”
Zwerner has given several interviews about the physically and psychologically terrifying gunfight. The story made national headlines, and Zwerner received warmth from strangers around the world.
Unopened documents reveal chilling words of Virginia 6-year-old after shooting first-grade teacher during class
Abby Zwirner, the teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student at Rich Neck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, last year, spoke with reporter Peter Dujardin in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Wednesday. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian Pilot, via AP)
“I really relate to the kindness that people still have,” she told 13News Now. “It helps me remember that even though terrible things happened to me that shouldn't have happened, there's still kindness and goodness left in the world.”
Zwirner is suing Newport News Public Schools for $40 million, alleging the school district ignored multiple warnings that the boy had a gun and was in a violent mood.
The school board tried to block the lawsuit, arguing that Zwirner was only entitled to workers' compensation compensation under Virginia law. However, a judge ruled in November that the case could proceed to trial.
Peter Dujardin shows reporter Abby Zwirner the scar on his left hand Wednesday in Virginia Beach, Virginia. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian Pilot, via AP)
Fox News Digital has reached out to an attorney representing the school board.
Dejah Taylor, the mother of the boy who shot and killed Zwerner, was sentenced to two years in prison on felony neglect and federal weapons charges. The boy told authorities he climbed into a drawer to reach the top of the dresser and obtained his mother's handgun, which he said was in her mother's purse. Taylor initially told police he had secured the gun with a trigger lock, but investigators said they could not find the trigger lock.
Mother of Virginia boy who shot and killed teacher convicted of child neglect
The boy reportedly bragged about the shooting after the shooting.
“I shot that kid,” the boy said on Jan. 6, 2023, shortly after the shooting, said Amy Kovach, a reading specialist at Richneck Elementary School. Kovacs then burst into the classroom and restrained the child until police arrived.
Dejah Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot and killed a teacher in Virginia, was sentenced last month to two years in prison for child neglect. (Steven M. Katz/Virginian Pilot via AP/File)
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Zwerner said she has no plans to return to teaching. She has not been in contact with her former students, she said, and she “still has a really hard time remembering the last time I was with her students,” Zwerner said. Told. “And I remember the last time they were with me.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
