"Until she couldn’t breathe”: Virginia 6-year-old who shot Abby Zwerner allegedly choked another teacher

On January 6, 2023, Virginia school teacher Abby Zwerner was injured after she was shot by her 6-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia.

While the shooting shocked citizens of Newport News, an anonymous Richneck Elementary teacher's assistant told the Associated Press she was not surprised, as the 6-year-old allegedly had a history of violence that was not addressed adequately by the school administration.

The teacher's assistant said that prior to the shooting of Abby Zwerner, the same 6-year-old had assaulted her from behind, attempting to strangle her. She claimed that despite her attempts to speak to school officials about the incident, she was ignored, adding:

“I didn’t feel safe the rest of the year because I knew if they didn’t protect me when he choked me and I couldn’t breathe, then they wouldn’t protect me, my kids or my colleagues if he did something not as harmful."

As per BBC, due to the shooter's age, he cannot be prosecuted for the crime. Abby Zwerner was released from the hospital in mid-January.

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How did the Richneck administration deal with Abby Zwerner's 6-year-old shooter?

As per Abby Zwerner's attorney Diane Toscano, the school administration did not deal with the troubled student despite his long history of verbally and physically abusing not only other students, but staff as well.

According to court papers, two days before the shooting, the student was given a one-day suspension after he had an argument with Zwerner, in which he destroyed her phone. Upon his return to class, he had brought a legally purchased handgun that belonged to his mother.

The legal notice stated that despite warnings to the school administration that a student was carrying a weapon, the firearm was never confiscated from him. The Independent reported that while the administration conducted a search, they did not find anything.

The legal notice against the administration read:

“The shooter spent his entire recess with a gun in his pocket, a gun that was loaded and ready to fire … while lots of first-grade students played.”

The notice added:

“(A teacher) was made aware that the shooter had taken something out of his backpack right before she searched the shooter’s backpack, and the shooter put it in the pocket of his hoodie before going out to recess."

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In an official statement released by the shooter's family, they said that the child suffers from a disability, and that they had done their best to secure the firearm.

The family's statement read:

“Our son suffers from an acute disability and was under a care plan at the school that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to Class every day. We will regret our absence on this day for the rest of our lives.”

Besides Abby Zwerner, no one else was injured in the incident.