awarded

Abby Zwerner, 28, was shot in 2023 as she sat in a first-grade classroom and sustained life-threatening injuries.

A jury in the state of Virginia in the United States has awarded $10m to a former teacher who was shot by a six-year-old student.

The jury on Thursday sided with former teacher Abby Zwerner’s claim, made in a civil lawsuit, that an ex-administrator at the school had ignored repeated warnings that the six-year-old child had a gun in class.

Zwerner, 28, was shot in January 2023 as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom and spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, required six surgeries and still does not have the full use of her left hand.

The bullet fired by the six-year-old narrowly missed her heart and remains in her chest.

Zwerner, who did not address reporters outside the court after the decision was announced, had sought $40m in damages against Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in the city of Newport News, Virginia.

One of her lawyers, Diane Toscano, said the verdict sent a message that what happened at the school “was wrong and is not going to be tolerated, that safety has to be the first concern at school”.

Zwerner’s lawyers had claimed that Parker, the assistant principal at the time, had failed to act in the hours before the shooting after several school staff members told her that the student had a gun in his backpack.

“Who would think a six-year-old would bring a gun to school and shoot their teacher?” Toscano had asked the jury earlier.

“It’s Dr Parker’s job to believe that is possible. It’s her job to investigate it and get to the very bottom of it.”

Parker did not testify in the lawsuit.

The mother of the student who shot Zwerner was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of child neglect and firearms charges.

No charges were brought against the child, who told authorities he got his mother’s handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mother’s purse.

Newtown Action Alliance, an advocacy organisation that supports reforms aimed at addressing gun violence, said that the case points to the need for greater regulations over the storage of firearms in homes with children.

“Abby Zwerner was shot by her 6-year-old student using a gun from home,” the group said in a social media post, adding that “76 percent of school shooters get their guns from their homes or relatives”.

Abby Zwerner was shot by her 6-year-old student using a gun from home.

76% of school shooters get their guns from their homes or relatives.

Urge your Members of Congress to cosponsor Ethan’s Law.

Congressional Switchboard: (202) 224-3121#SafeStorageSavesLives #EndGunViolence pic.twitter.com/YZyuo0KxXj

— Newtown Action Alliance (@NewtownAction) November 6, 2025

Zwerner no longer works for the school district and has said she has no plans to teach again. She has since become a licensed cosmetologist.

While accidents involving young children accessing unsecured firearms in their homes are common in the US, school shootings perpetrated by those under 10 years old are rare.

A database compiled by US researcher David Riedman has registered about 15 such incidents since the 1970s.

There were 43 goals scored, five red cards handed out and six penalties awarded – of which five were converted.

It was a relentless evening of Champions League football on Tuesday.

Last season’s winners Paris St-Germain hit seven past Leverkusen, with both teams having a player sent off and the German side’s Alejandro Grimaldo missing a spot-kick.

PSV Eindhoven fought back from a goal down before running riot in a 6-2 win against Italian champions Napoli.

Arsenal, Newcastle and Manchester City all claimed convincing victories, with City’s Erling Haaland scoring for a 12th consecutive game.

There were goals and drama aplenty, so BBC Sport has dived into the stats behind an entertaining night in Europe’s most prestigious club tournament.

Tonight, fans watched on as the Strictly Come Dancing celebrities and pros took to the dance floor for week 3, here’s who topped the board in Movie Week

Tonight, the celebrities and professionals on took to the dance floor for the third time this series, in Strictly Come Dancing‘s Movie Week.

Last week, the show lost its first couple, Thomas Skinner and Amy Dowden, and tomorrow night, one more couple will be leaving the competition.

Last night, it was revealed that Stefan Dennis would be withdrawing from tonight’s live show due to illness. However, due to show rules, himself and his partner Dianne Buswell will be given a bye through to next week.

READ MORE: Strictly It Takes Two chaos as Fleur East forced to apologise for star swearing on airREAD MORE: Strictly’s Chris Robshaw ‘laughed at on the dance floor’ as he makes emotional admission

Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin – 8 9 9 9 = 35

Chris Robshaw and Nadiya Bychkova – 4 6 6 6 = 22

George Clarke and Alexis Warr – 6 8 9 8 = 31

La Voix and Aljaz Skorjanec – 7 7 7 7 = 28

Ross King and Jowita Przystał – 4 5 5 5 = 19

Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon – 7 7 6 6 = 26

Karen Carney and Carlos Gu – 4 7 7 7 = 25

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Lauren Oakley – 7 7 6 8 = 28

Vicky Pattison and Kai Widdrington – 5 7 6 7 = 25

Ellie Goldstein and Vito Coppola – 6 7 7 7 = 27

Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe – 7 8 7 8 = 30

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Karen Hauer 8 8 8 8 = 32

Lewis Cope and Katya Jones – 9 10 9 9 = 37

Lewis impressed the judges the most this week, scoring the first 10 of the series – landing at the top of the leaderboard. Unfortunately, it was bad news for Ross and Jowita who placed at the bottom.

However, the game isn’t over yet. Although the judges scores do count, so do the public, so you still have a chance to help to save your favourite couple.

This year, there are two huge changes to the voting. Phone votes have been scrapped, meaning viewers can only vote online for their favourite couple.

Elsewhere, there has been a change in terms of how the judges make their decision in Sunday night’s dance off. At the end of the first live show, hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly announced a huge shake-up to the show after 7 years – the power is no longer in Shirley Ballas‘ hands.

For the last seven years, head judge Shirley has been responsible for the gruelling decision of choosing which couple in the bottom two should leave if the votes are tied after the dance off.

However, now it’s been announced that the power is going to be shared between the four judges, with a different judge holding the power each week.

“This changes everything!” exclaimed former Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison, as Lorraine star Ross King added: “I just can’t believe it!”

Strictly Come Dancing continues next Saturday on BBC One. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat ,Instagram ,Twitter , Facebook ,YouTube and Threads .