Virginia teacher Abby Zwerner is showing off for the first time the scars left on her hand after she was shot by her 6-year-old student last year — a terrifying moment that was the last time she saw her first-grade class.
The 26-year-old educator left her job at Richneck Elementary School shortly after a small boy discharged a gun he swiped from his mother’s purse, striking Zwerner in his classroom on Jan. 2, 2023.
“It’s still hard for me to think about the last memory I have of them,” Zwerner told Pilot Online Wednesday — the one-year anniversary of the shooting and just weeks after the boy’s mother was sentenced to two years in prison for child neglect. .
“I just wonder about them,” he said, referring to his students. “I hope they enjoy school, enjoy their second grade year. I hope that they are still good with their classmates, good with the teacher. I hope they still have happiness, and that their happiness is not completely taken away.”
Zwerner displayed a scar on the back of his left hand, where a bullet entered and exited before hitting his chest and puncturing his lung.
He had been sitting at a class reading desk when the student – who his mother claimed “really liked” his teacher – pointed a gun at him and opened fire.
Abby Zwerner said she still struggles to think about the classroom shooting a year after it happened. AP
Since then, Zwerner has undergone five surgeries on the hand to restore his fine motor skills. Although he has made “tremendous progress,” Zwerner noted he still struggles with daily tasks.
His hands “will never be 100%,” Zwerner said. “I struggle with picking things up … sometimes it’s still hard to do the buttons.”
He has dealt with various health problems in the year since the ordeal — including a bullet fragment still lodged in his chest — but said the physical scars aren’t the only ones he’s left with.
“It will always be with me … and it’s always in the back of my head,” Zwerner said.
The bullet entered Zwerner’s left hand before hitting his chest and piercing his lung. AP
“I’m not the same every day. I don’t have the same emotions every day — or the same feelings, the same thoughts every day. Therefore, there are many good days or good moments, and also bad days or bad moments. … It’s a mix.”
Zwerner has previously spoken about his new struggles with anxiety in public spaces and people hiding their hands in their pockets. He has also been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
Anxiety has become so ingrained in her daily life that Zwerner is unable to return to the classroom — robbing the young educator of her zest for life.
Although he said he “loved” seeing his former students, Zwerner doesn’t see himself ever teaching again.
Zwerner is in the midst of fighting a $40 million lawsuit against his former school district. AP
“It has a lot to do with the anxiety that comes with it,” he told the outlet.
“The PTSD that comes with it. The fear that comes with it when I think about walking into a classroom, or a school, or (being) a teacher in front of kids. … So I know for now, at least, I’m working on a path new career. That’s personal for now.”
Zwerner is still at the center of a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News School Board, alleging administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun.
The school board has tried to block the lawsuit, arguing that Zwerner is only eligible for workers’ compensation under Virginia law, a move Zwerner described as “painful.”
A judge ruled in November that the lawsuit could proceed to trial, which the school board is in the process of appealing.
Deja Taylor was sentenced to nearly four years in prison after her son brought his gun to school. AP
Meanwhile, the mother of the boy who shot Zwerner, Deja Taylor, was sentenced in December to two years in prison for child neglect.
Taylor, in November, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for using marijuana while in possession of a firearm in connection with the shocking case.
Her son, now 7, is in another school and in his grandfather’s care.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
