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.”

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.

“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.”

VIRGINIA TEACHER SHOT BY 6-YEAR-OLD STUDENT IN CLASSROOM SAYS SHE’LL ‘NEVER FORGET THE LOOK ON HIS FACE’

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.”

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.”

VIRGINIA TEACHER EMAILS REVEAL ‘BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES’ WITH 6-YEAR-OLD WHO SHOT HER: REPORT

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.

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

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.

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.

An Alabama man was arrested after authorities say investigators uncovered disturbing plans to carry out violence against synagogues throughout Alabama and neighboring states.

Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker, 33, of Needham was taken into custody after the FBI and local law enforcement were notified of “credible threats of violence” against multiple synagogues, the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday in a news release.

“Last night, likely acts of violence were averted before they happened,” the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators said they seized weapons, more than a suitcase full of ammunition, body armor and other items from Shoemaker’s residence that were related to the alleged plans of violence.

INDIANA TRANS STUDENT ADMITS TO PLOTTING VALENTINE’S DAY SCHOOL SHOOTING, KEPT ‘SHRINE’ TO MASS KILLERS

“He had stockpiled some ammunition, some of it was old, some of it was new,” Clarke County Sheriff DeWayne Smith told FOX10 WALA. “He had a newly purchased assault rifle, he had extended magazines which were loaded and the way that the ammo was fixed was like he was ready to go and utilize it somewhere.”

The investigation further revealed that Shoemaker did not plan on being taken alive, according to the sheriff’s office.

“He had planned to shoot it out with the police, but, due to tactics, he was unable to do so,” Smith said, adding that the bruises seen in Shoemaker’s mugshot were sustained while he resisted arrest.

Shoemaker was also accused of potentially planning attacks on public figures. Authorities did not immediately release the names of any figures Shoemaker was allegedly targeting due to the ongoing investigation. The names of the synagogues he allegedly planned to target were also not immediately provided.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Shoemaker was charged with resisting arrest and certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm. Additional federal charges are likely, authorities said.

Shoemaker was being held on $150,000 cash bond. He was due to appear in court on Nov. 7.

FIRST ON FOX: Law enforcement officers have made more than 1,700 arrests in Memphis, Tennessee, in the one month since the Trump administration began surging resources to the notoriously crime-ridden city, according to statistics shared with Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

People were arrested for homicides, drugs, gun charges and sex offenses, and they included 126 “known gang members,” according to the data. Additionally, seven dozen missing children were located and 293 firearms seized as part of the Department of Justice-led effort.

Attorney General Pam Bondi thanked Memphis’ Democratic leadership for its cooperation in a statement to Fox News Digital and touted the department’s successes.

“Tolerating crime is a choice. Under President Trump, we choose law and order: residents of our cities do not have to live in fear of violent crime,” Bondi said. “Our federal surge into Memphis has put gang members behind bars, rescued dozens of children, and proven that collaboration between federal and local law enforcement can quickly make American cities safe again. I am grateful to all of our partners, especially Memphis leadership, for working closely alongside our agents.”

TRUMP ORDERS NATIONAL GUARD, FBI TO MEMPHIS IN NEW CRIME CRACKDOWN

A review by local outlet WSMV found that Memphis had the highest violent crime rate in the country in 2024. A city dashboard reflected a recent improvement, showing that since Sept. 1, serious crime in Memphis has dropped 46%.

The statistics provided to Fox News Digital also detailed several arrests. They showed an alleged All On The Blade gang member was arrested for first-degree murder, an alleged Bullet to Bullet gang member was arrested for attempted second-degree murder, an alleged Sureno 13 gang member was arrested while allegedly inside a stolen car containing methamphetamine and two Chinese noncitizens, including one allegedly in the country illegally, were arrested with more than $1 million in cash on them.

More than a dozen federal agencies are participating in the surge, which Trump announced as a “Memphis Safe Task Force” from the Oval Office last month alongside Bondi and other Cabinet members and Tennessee leaders.

A person familiar with the operation said the federal presence, including the National Guard, will remain in Memphis for now and that there is no set end date.

In addition to National Guard troops, the DOJ’s components on the ground in Memphis include the FBI; U.S. Marshals Service; the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. A string of local and state law enforcement are also involved. The DOJ outfits began arriving Sept. 29.

MEMPHIS RESIDENTS SPLIT OVER NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT TO FIGHT CITY’S CRIME

The task force represents a broader trend of the Trump administration executing crime and immigration enforcement operations in blue cities that the president has described as crime-infested “war zones,” a characterization that state and local leaders have widely rejected. Chicago, Portland and parts of California have all been targets.

In stark contrast to the mass protests and federal lawsuits that cropped up in those jurisdictions, Memphis has been more welcoming of the federal and military reinforcements. Tennessee is a solid red state, and Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, approved of deploying National Guard troops to aid in the crackdown. The governor was sued by some local leaders over the decision.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young has been less warm than Lee to the task force initiative but has remained cooperative. His office did not respond to a request for comment.

In a viral clip, a Memphis resident was seen thanking Trump this month while saying she has no interest in politics.

“I will say thank you to Trump for bringing these National Guards and doing what they’re doing down here in Memphis,” the woman said. “For the first time in five years — I’ve been in my home for five years — and for the first time my kids have been able to play in the backyard and be able to do it comfortably. I haven’t heard a gunshot in two weeks.”