One of the most appalling things that can happen is a school shooting that could have been prevented.
Now, in today’s story, we’re not talking about a situation like the Parkland, Florida shooting in which the shooter could have been stopped by a school security officer before being able to kill anyone, and we’re not talking about a situation in which law enforcement knew about the danger but did nothing to intervene before the shooter arrived at the school (unfortunately, those have, on occasion happened).
No, what we’re talking about is a strange situation in a school which had horrible consequences.
Now, there has been a verdict on the lawsuit that this situation caused. John Raby and Erik Verduzco write,
Abby Zwerner was shot in January 2023 as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom. She had sought $40 million against Parker in the lawsuit.
Zwerner spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, required six surgeries and does not have the full use of her left hand. A bullet narrowly missed her heart and remains in her chest.
Raby and Verduzco continue:
A jury in Virginia awarded $10 million Thursday to a former teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student, siding with her claims in a lawsuit that an ex-administrator ignored repeated warnings that the child had a gun.
The jury returned its decision against Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.
Now, I can’t guess what was going through the administrator’s head that prevented her from taking action once told that the child had a gun.
What I can say is that, given all of the publicity that school shootings get these days, she should have taken immediate action to get the firearm away from the child and secure it until law enforcement could intervene in the situation.
It’s terrible that she didn’t do that, and it’s a miracle that Zwerner survived.
The world doesn’t need anymore terrible stories like this one. Keep your children safe and make sure that they only have access to firearms when you are there to supervise them and ensure safety.
