Virginia, United States – A former elementary teacher in the United States has been awarded 10 million USD or over 500 million PHP in damages after a jury found a former school official guilty of negligence.
This is after ignorance of repeated warnings that a 6-year-old boy had brought a gun to Richneck Elementary School in the state of Virginia, which prompted the child to shoot her teacher Abigail Zwerner last January 6, 2023.
The verdict was handed down on Thursday in favor of Zwerner, who was shot in the hand and chest inside the classroom.
According to court documents, several teachers had already warned the accused, former assistant principal Ebony Parker, that the child was carrying a firearm in his backpack.
Parker chose to ignore the warnings.
During the trial, Zwerner’s legal team argued that Parker, who did not testify in the court, had a duty to protect staff and students.
Parker’s camp, however, denied the responsibility.
In their defense, Parker did not have a legal duty to protect the teacher as she did not volunteer to protect Zwerner.
Thus, they claimed that her actions did not amount to gross negligence.
But in the end the jurors found her liable for the incident.
This event is another part of the ongoing problem in the United States on school shootings.
There have been 64 school shootings in the country this year as of October 27, according to CNN.
Going back, Parker also faces separate criminal charges for eight counts of felony child neglect.
Meanwhile, the child’s mother has already been sentenced to nearly four years in prison on charges of child neglect and illegal possession of firearms.