Zwerner's shooting provoked conversations about the culpability of young shooters and their parents, and comparisons with the 2000 killing of Kayla Rolland, also committed by a six-year-old student.
The mother of the six-year-old male was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon, making false statements, and child neglect in relation to the shooting, and was sentenced to 3+3⁄4 years in prison.
[5][6] Before the shooting, multiple staff members, including Zwerner, told school administrators about the student's conduct and concerns that he may have a weapon on him.
About an hour before she was shot, Zwerner also reportedly texted an unidentified individual that the student claimed to have a gun and that administrators were not helping.
[7][8] During a routine lesson,[9] at approximately 2 p.m. local time on January 6, 2023,[4] the student pointed a 9mm Taurus pistol at Zwerner and then shot at her when she tried to reach out for the weapon.
[21] In an NBC News opinion piece, a clinical psychologist emphasized the limitations of children's moral development and cognition of events, and called for compassion to be extended to the shooter and for the provision of care and rehabilitation, as opposed to incarceration.
[22] On January 25, Zwerner's attorney, Diane Toscano, stated that they intended to file a lawsuit regarding multiple failures by the administration to respond to concerns that the student had a gun on the school campus.
[25] A spokesperson for Newport News Public Schools said that Zwerner had resigned her position in March, and as a result her contract had expired on June 12 and was no longer employed by the district.
[29] In September, federal prosecutors asked the court to revoke the bond after she allegedly failed multiple drug tests.
[32] In April 2024, a grand jury charged the school's former assistant principal, Ebony Parker, with eight counts of felony child neglect.
[33] Later in January, the parents of the six-year-old shooter released an anonymized statement via their attorney that stated that he had an acute disability.
[34] In May 2023 the family of the shooter claimed that the boy had been diagnosed with ADHD, but had started medication and was meeting academic goals leading to his parents not attending classes with him.
[35] Newport News mayor Phillip Jones described the shooting as "a red flag for our country", also saying, "I do think that after this event, there is going to be a nationwide discussion on how these sorts of things can be prevented.