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Two teachers say Virginia school ignored warnings before 6-year-old shot educator

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Attorneys for a Virginia teacher shot by her 6-year-old student told jurors that the school’s former assistant principal ignored repeated warnings the boy had a gun, as a $40 million civil trial opened in Newport News.

The $40 million civil trial filed by first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner, who was shot by a 6-year-old student in 2023 with a 9 mm handgun, entered its opening phase Tuesday as attorneys delivered their opening remarks and the first witnesses took the stand.

The lawsuit accuses former school administrator Ebony Parker of failing to act after the first-grade teacher, the guidance counselor, the music teacher and the reading specialist informed her that the boy might have a gun. Zwerner is suing Parker, who resigned after the shooting.

“No one could have imagined that a 6-year-old first-grade student would bring a firearm into a school,” Parker’s attorney, Daniel Hogan, told jurors. “You will be able to judge for yourself whether or not this was foreseeable. That’s the heart of this case.”

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In this undated photo provided by her family and lawyers, Abigail Zwerner, a first-grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., is shown inside her classroom. Police have said a boy brought a 9mm handgun to school and intentionally shot Zwerner as she was teaching her first-grade class. (Family of Abigail Zwerner via AP, File)

LAWYERS FOR VIRGINIA TEACHER SHOT BY 6-YEAR-OLD FILE $40M SUIT DETAILING HOW SCHOOL ALLEGEDLY IGNORED WARNINGS

On Jan. 6, 2023, the boy pulled the gun from his hoodie and shot the 25-year-old teacher, with the bullet tearing through her left hand and lodging in her chest.

“1:58 p.m., BANG!” Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano, said in opening statements. “A bullet went through Abby’s hand, then through her chest.” The bullet is still in Zwerner’s body because it’s too dangerous to remove, she added.

Zwerner’s lawyer accused Parker of being grossly negligent because she had several opportunities to confiscate the gun based on the information provided by others.

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“She made bad decisions that day,” Toscano said.

Hogan said that decision-making in a public school setting is “cooperative” and “collaborative.” He also warned of hindsight bias and “Monday morning quarterbacking.”

“The law knows that it is fundamentally unfair to judge another person’s decisions based on stuff that came up after the fact,” Hogan said. “The law requires you to examine people’s decisions at the time they make them.”

Ebony Parker was released on bond in Newport News, Va., on April 10, 2024. (Newport News Police Department)

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Dr. Nina Farrish, the director of human resources for Newport News Public Schools, testified that Parker admitted to her two or three days after the shooting that it was reported around 12:20 p.m. the student had a gun in his backpack. That was more than 90 minutes before the shooting.

Amy Kovac, the reading specialist, was in Parker’s office when Zwerner told Parker the boy had threatened a kindergartner and had been aggressive with a security officer during lunch. Parker never looked up at Zwerner, who had to leave to return to class, Kovac testified.

“She told me I could tell [Zwerner] that she could call his mom at any time to come pick him up,” Kovac testified Tuesday.

When she confronted the 6-year-old, she recalled telling him, “Can I have the bag?” and the boy replied, “No, no one is getting that bag.”

Kovac said she immediately warned Parker, only to be brushed off: “She did say, well, he has little pockets.”

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Kovac testified that she pressed Parker again, saying the child might have slipped the weapon into his jacket pocket. Minutes later, after hearing the gunshot, Kovac ran to Zwerner’s classroom.

“I felt like I had a bubble of God around me, and I walked straight to him,” she told jurors.

The boy, she said, stood “with his legs kind of spread open, arms crossed and cocked.”

Kovac testified she grabbed his wrist and restrained him, using Zwerner’s phone to call for help.

“I said, this is Richneck. A teacher’s been shot. I have the shooter. Send help.”

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A Newport News police officer directs traffic at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023.  (AP Photo/John C. Clark)

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Another first-grade teacher at the school, Jennifer West, testified Tuesday that a “visibly nervous” student told her after recess that the 6-year-old had a gun on him, and he saw the firearm and bullet.

She said she called the front office to report this to an administrator, per protocol, and also spoke to a school counselor about it.

The counselor, Rolonzo Rawles, testified Tuesday that he asked Parker if he could search the child’s person for a gun and that she responded that the student’s mother would be arriving to get him soon and to wait to check him then.

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“I didn’t want to step over any boundaries, so I wasn’t going to check him without permission,” Rawles said.

Newport News, Virginia, schoolteacher Abby Zwerner appears in a Newport News, Virginia, courtroom, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)

Toscano argued that Parker had the authority as the assistant principal to act.

“Who would think a 6-year-old is going to bring a gun to school and shoot their teacher?” she said. “Dr. Parker’s job is to believe that is possible.”

Parker faces a separate criminal trial next month on eight counts of felony child neglect, one for “each of the eight bullets that endangered all the students” in Zwerner’s classroom, prosecutors said.

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Deja Taylor turned herself in, according to the Newport News Police Department. She was sentenced to two years in prison for felony neglect and federal weapons charges.  (Newport News Police Department)

The mother of the boy who shot Zwerner, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in prison for felony neglect and federal weapons charges

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Southeast

Illegal immigrant arrested after showing up to Florida Border Patrol office for contract IT work

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Illegal immigrant arrested after showing up to Florida Border Patrol office for contract IT work

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FIRST ON FOX: An illegal immigrant who reported to a U.S. Border Patrol site in Florida to perform some Information technology contractual work was arrested when authorities were made aware of his citizenship status, officials said. 

Angel Camacho, a Venezuelan citizen, reported to a USBP center in Dania Beach, Florida, Jan. 6 to do some IT work when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials began vetting him, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital. 

During its investigation, it was revealed Camacho was in violation of U.S. immigration laws, authorities said. 

Angel Camacho reported to a Florida U.S. Border Patrol center to perform contractual work when he was arrested, a Department of Homeland Security official said.  (Getty Images )

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“CBP vets all external visitors before allowing them to enter secure facilities to ensure safety and operational integrity,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. 

“During the vetting process, CBP uncovered this individual was a tourist visa overstay in the country for over five years.”

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This photo shows a U.S. Border Patrol patch on a border agent’s uniform in McAllen, Texas, Jan. 15, 2019. (Suzanne CordeiroAFP via Getty Images)

Camacho was arrested and transferred to ICE custody, Bis said. 

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His criminal history includes theft and resisting a Florida Highway Patrol officer, officials said. Federal authorities have nabbed several illegal immigrants in the process of trying to obtain employment in law enforcement and education. 

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One Sierra Leone citizen was recently arrested as he was training to become a Pennsylvania corrections officer. 

Another illegal immigrant, Ian Roberts, served as the former superintendent of Iowa’s largest district, Des Moines Public Schools, before he was arrested by ICE. 

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High school teacher arrested in alleged sex case involving student

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High school teacher arrested in alleged sex case involving student

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A Georgia high school teacher was arrested Wednesday after allegations of inappropriate contact between a teacher and a minor student surfaced at Lee County High School.

Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee, agent or foster parent, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).

Lee County High School requested the Leesburg Police Department investigate the allegations on Feb. 3, and the GBI was called to assist the following day.

Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, Ga., is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)

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Investigators identified Weaver as the “subject,” and identified the victim as a student under 18 years old at Lee County High School, according to officials.

GBI agents continued the investigation along with the Leesburg Police Department, and arrest warrants were obtained for Weaver on Tuesday.

A Google Maps street view photo of Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga. (Google Maps)

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Weaver turned herself in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, and was later released on bond, according to a report from WALB News.

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This investigation is active and ongoing, according to the GBI.

The incident allegedly happened at a high school in Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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Once complete, the case file will be given to the Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

Leesburg is located in South Georgia, and is about an hour and a half north of Tallahassee, Florida.

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Lee County High School’s communications team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Federal court clears way for Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms

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Federal court clears way for Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms

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A federal appeals court cleared the way Friday for a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, lifting a lower court block and reigniting debate over religion in public education.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted 12-6 to lift a block first imposed in 2024, finding it was too early to determine the constitutionality of the law. Critics argue the requirement violates the separation of church and state, while supporters say the Ten Commandments are historical and foundational to U.S. law.

The court said in the majority opinion that it was unclear how schools would display the poster-sized materials, noting that the law allows additional content, like the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence, to appear alongside the Ten Commandments.

The majority wrote that there were not enough facts to “permit judicial judgment rather than speculation” when evaluating potential First Amendment concerns.

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A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a lower court block on Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom law, bringing the measure closer to taking effect. (John Bazemore/AP)

In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge James Ho, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote that the law was constitutional and “consistent with our founding traditions.”

“It is fully consistent with the Constitution, and what’s more, it reinforces our Founders’ firm belief that the children of America should be educated about the religious foundations and traditions of our country,” Ho said, adding that the law “affirms our Nation’s highest and most noble traditions.”

Circuit Judge James L. Dennis, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote in a dissenting opinion that displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms would amount to “exposing children to government‑endorsed religion in a setting of compulsory attendance.”

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A federal appeals court ruling on Feb. 20 allows Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom mandate to proceed for now. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)

“That is precisely the kind of establishment the Framers anticipated and sought to prevent,” he added.

The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups representing the plaintiffs said they would pursue additional legal challenges to block the law.

“Today’s ruling is extremely disappointing and would unnecessarily force Louisiana’s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district,” the groups wrote in a joint-statement. “Longstanding judicial precedent makes clear that our clients need not submit to the very harms they are seeking to prevent before taking legal action to protect their rights.”

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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry praised the appeals court decision on Feb. 20 allowing the Ten Commandments classroom law to move forward. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Friday praised the court’s decision, writing on Facebook, “Common sense is making a comeback!”

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a statement following the ruling, saying schools “should follow the law.”

“Don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial. My office has issued clear guidance to our public schools on how to comply with the law, and we have created multiple examples of posters demonstrating how it can be applied constitutionally,” she said.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said schools should follow the Ten Commandments display law after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court block on Feb. 20. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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Joseph Davis, an attorney representing Louisiana in the case, celebrated the court’s decision.

“If the ACLU had its way, every trace of religion would be scrubbed from the fabric of our public life,” he said in a statement. “That position is at odds with our nation’s traditions and our Constitution. We’re glad the Fifth Circuit has allowed Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.”

Friday’s ruling came after the full court agreed to reconsider the case, months after a three-judge panel ruled the Louisiana law unconstitutional.

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A similar law in Arkansas faces a federal court challenge, while Texas implemented its own Ten Commandments classroom requirement last year.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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