A former assistant principal at a Virginia elementary school ignored multiple warnings that a 6-year-old student had a gun in the hours before he shot his teacher, an attorney for the teacher said Tuesday as trial opened in the woman’s $40 million lawsuit.

Abby Zwerner , a first-grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, was shot in the hand and chest in January 2023 as she sat at a reading table in her classroom. Zwerner spent nearly two weeks in the hospital , required six surgeries and does not have the full use of her left hand. A bullet remains in her chest.

The lawsuit accuses former school administrator Ebony Parker of failing to act after four different people went to her with concerns that the student brought a gun to school.

Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Tosca

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