'I thought I was dead': Virginia teacher shot by 6-year-old speaks out

A US teacher shot by a six-year-old student has said she will never forget the look on the boy's face when he pointed the gun at her.

Abigail Zwerner is speaking publicly for the first time after being shot by a primary school student on 6 January.

The 25-year-old teacher detailed the horrific day at Richneck Elementary School in the city of Newport News, Virginia.

"I thought I had died," she told NBC's Today show this week.

In the interview that aired on Tuesday, journalist Savannah Guthrie asked Ms Zwerner what she remembers about the day.

"The morning it felt like just a regular school day, but I started hearing things and things started happening that made my fear grow," Ms Zwerner said.

Police have said the child brought the gun in his backpack to the school.

Ms Zwerner plans to sue the school district after she was shot through her hand and upper chest following what police described as an "altercation" with the first-grader.

An intent-to-sue notice sent by the teacher's lawyer alleges that school leaders had been warned multiple times that the student had a firearm, and that the school failed to adequately respond.

Ms Zwerner said she clearly recalls seeing the gun being pointed at her.

"I remember the look on his face. I remember feeling something. It was a pretty scary day."

Ms Guthrie asked Ms Zwerner about her left hand, which appeared on camera wrapped in medical gauze.

"The initial gunshot went through my left hand and ruptured the middle bone as well as the index finger and the thumb. The gunshot then went into my chest up here where it actually still remains," she said, while pointing just above her heart. "So, I have a scar up here, and I still have some bullet fragments up here."

Ms Zwerner said doctors at the hospital told her the gunshot wound "could've been fatal" but since the bullet went through her hand it "most likely saved my life".

In the initial moments after she was shot, Ms Zwerner said her first thoughts were about the safety of her students. She ushered them out of the classroom despite her wounds before she was sent to the hospital in an ambulance.

Earlier this month Newport News Commonwealth's Attorney Howard Gwynn said that his office would not seek charges against the boy. He said the "prospect that a six-year-old can stand trial is problematic" because the child is too young to understand the legal system, he told NBC News.

The family of the young boy, who have also not been charged, has said he suffered from an "acute disability" and rarely attended school without one of his parents being present. However, the day of the shooting he had attended school alone.

The firearm was legally purchased and belonged to the child's mother, police have said.

In the wake of the incident, the school's superintendent was fired and the assistant principal resigned. Richneck Elementary School has since installed full-time security and metal detectors.

In the NBC interview, Ms Zwerner said she sometimes has nightmares about the shooting, and can struggle to get out of bed some days due to the difficult recovery.

"I'm not sure when the shock will ever go away… I think about it daily."