NEWPORT NEWS (WINA/CBS NEWS/AP) – Ruckersville native Abby Zwerner has filed a $40-million lawsuit against Newport News Public Schools regarding her being  shot January 6 in her 1st-grade Rich Neck Elementary School classroom. Her attorney, Diane Toscano, in a January 25 press conference said that morning they had submitted a letter to Newport News schools of their intent to sue. This morning, just over two months later, the lawsuit was filed in Newport News Circuit Court naming the Newport News School Board and several school district officials, including former Superintendent George Parker III, as defendants.

The suit alleges “gross negligence” on the part of school administrators who Zwerner claims were warned multiple times the 6-year old had a gun and was “in a violent mood”.  As Toscano said back in January, “Did administrators call the police, no… did administrators lock down the school, no… did the administrators evacuate the building, no… did they confront the student, no.”

“This should have never happened… it was preventable… and thank God Abby is alive,” Toscano said.

25-year old Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest while sitting at a reading table in her classroom near the end of the school day. She spent two weeks in the hospital and has had four surgeries since the shooting.

Michelle Price, a spokesperson for the school board, Lisa Surles-Law, chair of the school board, and other board members did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the lawsuit. The former superintendent did not immediately return a message seeking comment left on his cellphone.