NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (Court TV) — The assistant principal of a Virginia elementary school is standing trial for allegedly failing to act before a first grader shot his teacher with a gun.
Ebony Parker appears in court during jury selection. (Court TV)
Ebony Parker is charged with eight counts of felony child abuse and has pleaded not guilty. Parker was the assistant principal of Richneck Elementary School on Jan. 6, 2023, when a 6-year-old boy, identified as J.T., pulled out a gun and shot his teacher, Abigail Zwerner, in the hand and chest.
Zwerner, who suffered serious injuries in the shooting, claimed in a civil lawsuit against Parker that the student who shot her had a history of issues, including an incident where he attacked a teacher.
On the day of the shooting, one student told teachers that J.T. had shown him both the bullets and a gun and threatened to “hurt us, blow us up.” Two other students also reported that the child had a gun in his bag. Teachers and a school counselor testified at the civil trial that they had concerns about the student and had wanted to search his backpack before the shooting.
When she testified at the civil trial, Zwerner said that she had gaps in her memory from the day of the shooting, but said she remembered thinking she had died. “I thought I was dying. I thought I had died, I thought I was either on my way to Heaven or in Heaven, but then it got all black and so then I thought I wasn’t going there,” she said. “My next memory is I see two coworkers around me and I process that I’m hurt and they’re putting pressure on where I’m hurt.”
Prosecutors say Parker ignored warnings and refused to grant permission to search the child’s belongings and allegedly told the other teachers she thought the child’s pockets were too small to hold a handgun.
Parker resigned shortly after the civil suit was filed.
Parker’s defense argued at the civil trial that nobody could have expected a 6-year-old to bring a gun to school and said she followed proper protocols and procedures on the day in question.
Parker is currently appealing the civil jury’s $10 million award, which was stayed pending a postjudgment hearing.
If convicted, Parker faces a potential sentence of one to five years on each count.
