Summary Of Abby Zwerner's Incident At Richneck Elementary School

On January 6th, 2023, Abby Zwerner, a 25-year-old teacher, was shot at Richneck Elementary School by a 6-year-old in her classroom. This student had previous behavior issues. According to sources this young boy once said he wanted to light his teacher on fire and watch her die. Zwerner and numerous other teachers reported to administration about this student's behavior issues however they were ignored. One incident was this student barricaded the doors so that teachers and students could not get out. Another incident was reported that the male student choked a teacher until she could not breathe. A few more examples include him cursing staff out and trying to whip classmates with his belt. These are a few behaviors that were reported to administrators

Zwerner reported to Assistant principal Dr. Ebony Parker that the student seemed off and was in a violent mood. Later in the day another teacher reported that the boy had been telling his friends that he had a gun. The teacher searched his backpack however there was no gun to be found. The teacher told Parker however she brushed it off and did not search the backpack. That day at recess the shooter showed another student the gun and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone. At this time two teachers and the guidance counselor told Parker about these incidents. The teachers were told to not search the backpack because his mom would be coming to pick him up soon (Hammond, 2023). Forty-five minutes after this incident, Zwerner was shot while sitting at her reading table. Luckily no other students during this incident were physically harmed however the emotional damage these students faced will be something they have to deal with for the rest of their lives. The day before, the boy was suspended for slamming and breaking Zwerners phone (Hammond, 2023). Typically he is accompanied by either his mother or father to school however this was the first week they were not in class with him. Unfortunately, school shootings happen more often than we know because they are not

The school system failed the many victims that have been the outcome of these failures. This student was suspended the day before the shooting for a violent act and had multiple reports of violent acts. He was brought back to school, reported to have a gun, no gun was found, and then shortly after shot his teacher in the chest. On this day administrators failed Abby Zwerner putting her and her students in great danger. There were multiple instances before this day where the school board and administration could have provided this student with the help he needed. At one point, Abby Zwerner emailed the school board with her concerns and was ignored. Before this day there are many records of attempts to get this student either pulled out of the classroom and the help he needed. Notably the day of the shooting there were also multiple times that administration could have prevented this incident. This was a failure in the system that caused harm to