Exclusive: Virginia teacher Abigail Zwerner sprung into action after being shot: 'I just wanted to get my babies out'

The Jan. 6 school day seemed normal to Abigail Zwerner, a first grade teacher in Newport News, Virginia, until she heard rumblings that one of her students had a gun.

The Jan. 6 school day seemed normal to Abigail Zwerner, a first grade teacher in Newport News, Virginia, until she heard rumblings that one of her students had a gun. Fear consumed her as the day dragged on and school officials didn't act, she said.

Then, just before 2 p.m., while perched at a small table where she was reading to her students, she fixed her eyes on a 6-year-old boy sitting several feet away. His tiny fingers were wrapped around the trigger of a 9 mm handgun.

"I just will never forget the look on his face that he gave me while he pointed the gun directly at me," Zwerner, 25, said, recounting the harrowing moment at Richneck Elementary School in an interview that aired Tuesday on NBC’s "TODAY" show.

Abigail Zwerner in Virginia on Monday.Carlos Bernate for NBC NewsA bullet ripped through her left hand, rupturing bones before it lodged in her upper chest, where it remains. Although she was seriously wounded, she sprang into action to quickly collect the other children and usher them to safety. Frightened screams echoed in the class of about 20 students.

"That was pretty shocking itself," she said of getting shot without warning. "But I just wanted to get my babies out of there."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/abigail-zwerner-after-shot-by-student-rcna75806

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