The $40 million negligence trial for Richneck Elementary teacher Abby Zwerner is underway in Newport, and this time, the jury was shown chilling body cam footage that captures the immediate, chaotic aftermath of the shooting, where a 6-year-old student nearly took her life.
It’s hard to imagine what the jury must have felt watching the raw video, which showed first responders scrambling to save Zwerner’s life after the first-grade student shot her in the classroom on January 6, 2023.
This visual evidence of the immediate trauma highlights just how much was at stake, and it’s all part of Zwerner’s effort to hold former assistant principal Ebony Parker solely responsible for ignoring multiple, desperate warnings that day.
The heart of Zwerner’s $40 million lawsuit isn’t just that the shooting happened—it’s that it was entirely foreseeable and, frankly, should have been prevented. Zwerner’s attorneys are making it crystal clear that the school’s administration, specifically Ebony Parker, was told repeatedly that the 6-year-old student was a threat and was carrying a gun. They’re claiming gross negligence and a reckless disregard for Zwerner’s safety, and the testimony from school staff seems to back this up in a way that’s simply awful for anyone who puts their trust in school officials.
The school literally waited for a teacher to get shot
Staff members, including another teacher, the guidance counselor, and a reading specialist, all took the stand and testified that they reported their concerns to Parker. Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano, told the jury that Parker had at least four distinct opportunities to intervene after staff members followed the proper school protocol and notified her of the threat.
She argues that Parker, as an administrator, had the authority and the legal duty to search the child, remove him from the classroom, and call the police, but she chose to do nothing. Amy Kovac, a reading specialist, testified that two little girls in the hallway told her, “Two little girls came up to me and said JT has a gun,” referring to the student.
When Kovac reported this to Parker, the assistant principal allegedly downplayed the whole situation by saying something completely unbelievable. According to the complaint, Parker responded by saying the boy’s “pockets were too small to hold a handgun and did nothing.” I honestly can’t believe that’s what the administrative response was to a credible threat of a firearm.
Later, a guidance counselor, Rolonzo Rawles, also testified that when he spoke to Parker about the situation, she wouldn’t allow a search of the student. Instead, she said, “his mother will be coming to get him soon, so we can hold off and wait and maybe inform the mom when she comes to pick him up.” Imagine being told to simply “wait the situation out” when a student is walking around with a loaded weapon. In this day and age, that puts students and teachers at risk.
Body cam footage shows aftermath of Newport News school shooting https://t.co/nl6P0xXhSq
— 8News WRIC Richmond (@8NEWS) October 29, 2025
This lack of action is what Zwerner’s team is centering the entire case on. Toscano’s argument is powerful, stating that the shooting was absolutely within the realm of possibility and that Parker failed in her core duty. “Who would think a 6-year-old is going to bring a gun to school and shoot their teacher?” Toscano asked the jury. She immediately followed that up by saying, “Dr. Parker’s job is to believe that is possible,” underscoring the legal duty of care.
To be fair, Parker’s attorney, Daniel Hogan, is pushing back, arguing that no one “could have seen this coming” and that judging the decisions now is unfair “Monday morning quarterbacking.” However, multiple staff members followed protocol and begged the administration to intervene, so it is like Sunday quarterbacking, where the entire team is telling the coach something obvious, and they don’t listen.
