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.
Then, just before 2 p.m., while perched at the 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 aa 9mm handgun.
I just will never forget that 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.
A bullet ripped through her left hand, rapturing bones before it lodged in her upper chest, where it remains.
Although she was seriously wounded, she sprang into action to quickly collet the other children and usher them to safety. Frightened screams echoed in the class 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.
The events that followed were blur, she said, speaking publicly for the first time Monday with "TODAY" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.