Newly-released body camera footage has provided insight into the shocking moments after a then-six-year-old Richneck Elementary School student shot his teacher, Abby Zwerner, inside her classroom in 2023. The court has released police body camera video of what transpired after the first-grade student shot Abby near the end of the school day on January 6, 2023.
The footage offers a look into officers’ interaction with the boy as they rushed into the classroom moments after he shot Abby. The bullet went through Abby’s hand and then got lodged in her chest. Fortunately, she survived.
Who is Abby Zwerner?
Abby is a former first-grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. She was awarded $10 million in the case against the school’s former assistant principal, Ebony Parker, late last year. A separate criminal case was dismissed earlier in 2026.
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Abby’s civil case against Ebony accused her of not taking action after hearing multiple reports about the child having a gun. The Virginian Pilot and Daily Press filed a motion to unseal the body camera footage back in June. The judge agreed but laid out the condition that the child;s face would be blurred.
What does the footage show?
The boy was still in the first-grade classroom after the shooting, per Fox59 News. Reading specialist Amy Kovac was holding him as he yelled profanity and vulgarities at the officers and at Amy.
“The gun is there,” Amy said. “He just admitted he had one. … bullet.” There were seven more bullets in the jammed handgun at the time.
“Both of y’all want a [expletive] piece of me…” the boy said.
OFFICER: “Let’s leave the gun there…”
Officers find the gun on the other side of the room.
KOVAC: “I told the AP [Parker] that there was a threat earlier…”
“That [expletive] retired last year, …” the boy said.
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Kovac tells them that the student is six years on, on a modified schedule, and this is the first week he attended school without his mother present.
OFFICER: “Is he OK?”
KOVAC: “He’s fine. You’re fine? Turn over here. When you shot the gun, did anything hurt you?”
“No…” the boy said.
KOVAC: “Let me see your hands, let me see your hands.”
OFFICER: “Where’s the weapon.”
“It’s over there, [expletive],” the boy said.
KOVAC: “Stop that.”
“[Expletive] you,” the boy said.
KOVAC: “That’s not how we speak to each other.
“[Expletive] you, [expletive],” the boy said.
Kovac noted that the child has gun residue on his hand, following which the boy told officers how he obtained the weapon.
“My mom had that. I stole that from my mom,” the boy said. “I don’t care if you call backup. I don’t care if I go to jail.”
The child appeared to hit Kovac before officers walk him out of the classroom.