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On January 6, a teacher attacked by a 6-year-old boy cannot forget the look of the 25-year-old student who shot her. Arrived in critical condition at Riverside Regional Medical Center after being injured by a 6-year-old child’s detonation of a firearm; almost three months after that moment, she still has nightmares.
In an interview with NBC News, the first-grade teacher shot by a student can’t forget the look on the boy’s face when he pointed the gun at her. and moments later “I thought he was dead.”
“I remember him pointing the gun at me, I remember the look on his face,” Abigail Zwerner told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie in an interview that aired Tuesday, more than two months after the Jan. Richneck Elementary in Newport News will leave her hospitalized with gunshot wounds to her hand and chest.
“I’m not sure when the shock will wear off, because of how surreal it was and, you know, the vivid memories I have of that day,” he said. “I think about that every day. sometimes i have nightmares”.
The moment the boy “pointed the gun right at me” will stay with her forever, she said. “He has changed me, he has changed my life.”
As he narrated, he was aware that he had been shot, but not that the bullet passed through his left hand before lodging in his chest, where fragments remain, causing a collapsed lung, despite this, his first thought was the safety of his other students.
“At the time, my initial reaction was, ‘Your kids need to get out of here,’ you know? ‘This is no longer a safe classroom.’ … I just wanted to get my babies out of there,” she confessed through tears.
After getting his students to safety, Zwerner passed out, waking up in a hospital ward, where he has been for nearly a month after four surgeries since the shooting, most recently on his hand, which Zwerner is still unable to use fully.
So, Speaking publicly for the first time, Zwerner said he faces “obstacles and challenges” after multiple operations after being shot in his left hand and upper chest. Her therapy appointments have left her physically and mentally exhausted.
“Some days are not so good and I can’t get out of bed. Others are better, when I can get up and go to appointments,” Zwerner explained.
Prior to the interview, it transpired that the American teacher will sue the school district for negligence by ignoring warnings about the child’s worrying attitude.
“That day, those responsible for the school were notified three times that the boy had a gun,” explained the teacher’s lawyer, Diane Toscano.
Toscano detailed how, throughout the day the incident took place, on January 6, several teachers and employees heard that the boy had brought a gun to class and that he had threatened a classmate with shooting him, but the authorities ignored the report. warning.
While, The Newport News, Virginia, prosecutor’s office has ruled out criminal charges against the 6-year-old boy who injured his teacher. in the classroom while studying whether someone else has committed a crime.
Keep reading:
• 6-year-old boy who shot teacher at Virginia school will not face charges, report says
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• FBI investigates kidnapping of another US citizen in Mexico, now in Colima