The first-grade teacher who was allegedly shot by a six-year-old student in January is still recovering from her life-threatening injuries, telling NBC’s Savannah Guthrie she tries to stay positive in spite of everything.
Abigail Zwerner, 25, was teaching her class on Jan. 6 at Richneck Elementary School in Virginia when one of her students allegedly pulled out a firearm and fired a shot, striking Zwerner in the hand and upper chest. Since that time, Zwerner has undergone multiple surgeries for her injuries and continues to undergo occupational therapy to regain functionality in her left hand, NBC News reported.
“Some days are not so good days, where I can’t get up out of bed. Some days are better than others, where I’m able to get out of bed and make it to my appointments,” Zwerner told Guthrie.
“Physical therapy is not only physically exhausting but mentally exhausting as well. I’m supposed to be moving them once every hour, throughout the hour — just manipulating them to get that blood flowing and to get that movement back into the hand,” Zwerner said of her fingers.
In addition to her hand, Zwerner is still grappling with pain in her side where a chest tube was placed after her lung collapsed, the outlet reported.
Though she was critically injured, Zwerner corralled the rest of her students to safety in the aftermath of the shooting. This act earned her praise from Newport News Police; however, her lawyer, Diane Toscano, contends she should never have been injured at all, the outlet reported.
“I can tell you there were failures on multiple levels in this case, and there were adults that were in positions of authority that could have prevented this tragedy from happening and did not,” Toscano stated, according to the outlet.
Zwerner plans to file a lawsuit against the school district just weeks after the shooting after her concerns about the child in question reportedly went unheeded by the administration.
“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,” Toscano said at a January press conference.
The child accused of shooting Zwerner reportedly struggles with behavioral issues that required him to attend school with a parent, NBC reported. On the week of the shooting, however, no parent or guardian was present — something the family said they will always regret. Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn hasn’t determined whether any adults will face charges in the shooting of Zwerner but stated March 8 the child, citing his young age, would not face charges.
Though Zwerner still struggles with everyday tasks she tries to stay optimistic about the situation. “For going through what I’ve gone through, I try to stay positive,” Zwerner told NBC News. “You know, try to have a positive outlook on what’s happened and where my future’s heading,” she added.
EXCLUSIVE: Abigail Zwerner, the first-grade teacher who was shot by one of her students, is speaking for the first time to TODAY’s @SavannahGuthrie about what happened that day, and how she's doing now.
Tune into The Today Show Tuesday morning at 7:30amET for the full interview. pic.twitter.com/U4DRLw5LPs
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 20, 2023
Sounds like a typical Democrat communist corrupted program and indoctrinated Antichrist anti-constitutional luciferian public school system across the country under the Democrat Satan worshiping party of pedophiles predators, drug dealers, satanic education, murderers, child traffickers, and other Democrat fake victim black thugs, and gangster rap role models system of American deducation system. Criminally funded by our tax money
They need to put this child into the court system, because normal kids do not take guns to school and shoot people. I’m betting this child/person will re-offend at some later date, and a court record of this should be maintained until at least the age of 18.
IF a child’s behavior is so bad that he requires a parent/guardian to oversee him in class, that’s a HUGE clue right there that he SHOULD NOT BE IN A REGULAR SCOOL!!!!!!!!! Common sense. Whatever happened to that??
i have to say this…..when i was about 17yrs old babysitting two boys….i knew the family well and they lived right next to us. one of the boys climbed onto the kitchen counter top and reached into the top cabinet. i thought he was going to just get something …maybe some candy or something his mother might put up out of reach….but…he pulled out a pistol….i said what is that….then i saw what it was and told him to put it back….he laughed and started waving it around…and then pointed it at me….and saying some dumb things….then i slowly talked him into putting it back in and shutting the cabinet door. i got him down and turned on the tv and they watched it….when their mom and dad came home….i told his mother and she said …WHAT….how did he even know that was up there…..she got it down and it was loaded….at that moment i realized i could have died and maybe even the little brother….she got so upset …the boys were in bed and she told me a few days later she really got onto him about this…….so….parents sometimes are not aware how clever their kids are…..i say its better to have guns put into a LOCKED gun locker…always and parnets have the keys to it on their own key chain…..small kids dont understand the danger….as kids get older esp boys….its best for parents to discuss guns and if there is hunting in the family for everyone to go to the training school about gun use and safety…..but …always keep guns under lock …prayers for the teacher that she eventually heals up
The way this article is written just BURNS MY ASS!
“The first-grade teacher who was allegedly shot by a six-year-old student…”.
REALLY?! So the little bastard only ALLEGEDLY shot her?! GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!
I suppose she’s now still recovering from her ALLEGED life-threatening injuries.
FUCK THIS LITTLE BASTARD. She can stay as positive as she wants. However, DO NOT think this little FUCK can be rehabilitated. NO, NOT EVER. Put a gun to his head and pull the trigger – DONE!