A former Virginia teacher told civil jurors on Thursday she thought she was dead or about to die in the moments after she was shot by a 6-year-old boy two years ago.

Abigail Zwerner spoke slowly and at times struggled with her emotions, explaining how she was severely injured on Jan. 6, 2023, at Richneck Elementary in Newport News.

“I thought I was dying, I thought I had died,” she told the jury of three men and six women. “I thought I was on my way to heaven or in heaven. But then it all got black.”

The plaintiff’s testimony is at the heart of her $40 million civil lawsuit against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, who allegedly ignored several warnings about the boy who shot Zwerner.

The attack was totally preventable had Parker acted on clear signs the boy posed a threat, Zw

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