The administration for one Virginia elementary school was issued a warning a total of three times on three separate occasions about a young kid carrying a firearm but failed to take action prior to the child shooting their teacher, expressed a lawyer for the teacher this past Wednesday.
As the attorney for Richneck Elementary School teacher Abigail Zwerner, Diane Toscano spoke out to allege that the administrators for the school were given a warning multiple times when it came to the rogue gun, but ended up being “paralyzed by apathy” and refusing to lock down the school or bring in police forces, explained a report from the Associated Press. Toscano also unveiled that her client is now preparing to slam Newport News school district with a lawsuit due to being shot by the young 6-year-old boy while performing their teaching job back on the 6th of January.
“On that day, over the course of a few hours, three different times — three times — school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees that the boy had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people. But the administration could not be bothered,” explained Toscano.
George Parker, the superintendent for Newport News Public Schools, explained to parents who attended a meeting earlier this month that “at least one” official at the school was privy to the threat of a potential gun on the school’s campus prior to the shooting taking place.
Zwerner first went up to a school administrator at roughly 11:15 a.m. the day the shooting took place and stated that one 6-year-old threatened to beat another student up. Toscano explained that the school official, at that time, refused to take any actions at all in the wake of Zwerner expressing her concerns.
As expressed by the lawyer, one of Zwerner’s colleagues stated to a school administrator around noon that she went through the child’s bookbag and claimed that she thought he put the firearm in his pocket prior to going out for recess. The administrator openly “downplayed” the worries of the teacher, stating that the boy “has little pockets,” exclaimed Toscano.
Roughly an hour later, another teacher explained to the school admin that the boy showed the firearm to one of his classmated during recess and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone. The classmate who was threatened quickly ran to the teacher “crying and fearful,” expressed the lawyer, but the school once again did nothing.
The third warning was issued by another school employee who warned the administration again that the 6-year-old student might have a gun and pressed the administrator to carry out a search on the boy, but the admin allegedly said no.
At close to 2:00 pm, the 6-year-old aimed and fired one round into the chest of the 25-year-old teacher. Zwerner continues to recover at home after being hospitalized for two weeks.