Abigail Zwerner
Abigail Zwerner is an American teacher, who was shot by one of her students, on January 7, 2023.[1][2][3] Zwerner, 25 years old at the time, was regarded as a good teacher, teaching Grade One at Rickneck Elementary in Newport News, Virginia.[4]
Shooting
The student who shot her exhibited concerning behavior problems so severe his parents were supposed to attend class with him. Other students would later say the child had declared he wanted to kill Zwerner. For reasons that remain unexplained As of January 2023[update] no-one from his family was available to control his behavior on the day of the shooting.
School authorities received a tip the student was carrying a firearm in his backpack, and his backpack was searched, without success.
The firearm had been legally purchased by the student's mother.[5] Virginia law required her to store the weapon safely, and she claimed it was secured by a trigger lock, and was stored on the top shelf of her closet. As of January 2023[update] no explanation has been provided as to how the student got access to the weapon.
Later on January 7, 2023, the student produced the weapon, and fired a single shot at Zwerner, perforating her hand and hitting her in the chest. In spite of her life-threatening injuries Zwerner successfully evacuated the rest of her students from the classroom.
Zwermer's injuries were classed as life-threatening, but by January 19, she had been released from hospital, to continue her recovery at home.[5]
Education and family life
Zwermer followed a family tradition of becoming a teacher, several of her aunts are teachers.[4]
Zwermer earned an interdisciplinary degree from James Madison University, with a minor in Education and Music.[4] She followed that up with a Masters in Education, in 2000.
References
- ↑ "Virginia school district where 6-year-old allegedly shot teacher has had 3 school-related shootings in 17 months". NBC News. 2023-01-08. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/virginia-school-district-6-year-old-allegedly-shot-teacher-three-schoo-rcna64638.
- ↑ Edward Helmore (2023-01-08). "Virginia shooting of teacher by six-year-old ‘not accidental’, authorities say". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/08/virginia-teacher-shooting-by-six-year-old.
- ↑ "Newport News: Condition of teacher shot by child improving". BBC News. 2023-01-08. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64200873.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Denis Lavoie (2023-01-08). "Teacher shot by 6-year-old known as devoted to students". Associated Press (Richmond, Virginia). Archived from the original on 2023-01-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20230120150314/https://apnews.com/article/teaching-education-newport-news-virginia-2db4662a6d9f711c5bcd27b6142570a8. Retrieved 2023-01-23. "The custodians and other teachers spoke about how she’s a good teammate, she’s a team player, she loves her children, she’s just an all-around good teacher."
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Brian Todd; Steve Almasy; Michelle Watson (2023-01-19). "Teacher allegedly shot by 6-year-old released from the hospital as child's family sends condolences, says the gun was secured". CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/19/us/virginia-school-shooting/index.html. "The gun was legally purchased by the child’s mother, who could face charges at the end of the investigation, according to Drew."
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