Abby Zwerner, the former Virginia teacher shot by a 6-year-old in her Newport News classroom, testified she believed she had died as the attack unfolded. On the stand in her $40 million suit against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, accused of ignoring warnings about a gun, Zwerner described injuries, six surgeries, and a bullet that remains in her chest after narrowly missing her heart. She said she rushed students out before collapsing. Now a licensed cosmetologist, Zwerner no longer teaches. Parker, the lawsuit’s sole defendant, faces a separate criminal trial next month on eight felony child neglect counts.

Prepared by Emily Rhodes and reviewed by editorial team.