NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — It was a gunshot heard around the world: On the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2023, a 6-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News took out a gun he stole from his mother and shot his first grade teacher, Abby Zwerner.
The bullet went through her hand and into her chest. Within hours, the news had been picked up by U.S. news outlets, in addition to European and Asian sources. Zwerner, then a 25-year-old graduate of James Madison University, became a household name.
Over the next two-plus years, Zwerner's legal team would successfully argue that she has the right to pursue a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News School Division, alleging that school leaders — a group that was eventually whittled down to former Assistant Principal Ebony Parker, the lone defendant — ignored multiple warnings that the child had a gun and intended to use it.
Richneck Shooting
TIMELINE: The shooting of Abby Zwerner at Richneck Elementary & the aftermath
But Parker's legal woes won't end when the civil trial concludes: she is also facing criminal charges of felony child neglect — eight, to be exact, one for each bullet in the gun.
Parker was not the only one held criminally liable for the actions of the child, who has not been publicly named due to his age. Deja Taylor, the boy's mother, also 25 at the time of the shooting, faced state criminal charges for allowing her son to get a hold of the gun, and federal charges for lying on the form to buy her gun.
Taylor pleaded guilty and is serving out her two sentences, nearly four years combined.
Meanwhile, in Newport News, Zwerner's fight nears its conclusion.
On this episode of True Crime 757, local defense attorney Eric Korslund lends his legal expertise to our conversation about the trials of Taylor and Parker, with the civil suit set to start on Monday, Oct. 27.
Watch the full episode above or download on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. Just search "True Crime 757."
Watch our extended interview with Zwerner on the one-year anniversary of the shooting
True Crime 757 is sponsored by Korslund Law
