NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Nearly three years after the Richneck Elementary School shooting, the jury has reached a verdict in the $40 million lawsuit Abby Zwerner filed against Newport News Public Schools.

Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest in January 2023 as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade 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 narrowly missed her heart and remains in her chest.

The shooting sent shock waves through the military shipbuilding community and the country, with many wondering how a child so young could access a gun and shoot his teacher.

Former assistant principal Ebony Parker, who’s listed as a defendant in that lawsuit, also faces separate criminal charges. A

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