The Virginia teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old student says holding up her hands blocked the bullet and likely saved her life

• The teacher who was shot by her six-year-old student said holding up her hands to block the bullet likely saved her life.
• Abigail Zwerner told the 'Today' show that she was focused on saving her other students during the shooting.

The Newport News, Virginia, teacher who was shot by her first-grade student said doctors told her that holding up her hands to try to block the bullet most likely saved her life.

Abigail Zwerner, a 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School, was shot in her classroom by her six-year-old student on January 6.

She told the 'Today' show's Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday that her injuries — a gunshot wound through her left hand and a collapsed lung — "could have been fatal," but that her attempt to block the bullet with her hands probably saved her life.

The bullet traveled through her hand and into her chest.

"We believe, with my hand being up ... that, by the bullet going through the hand first, that it most likely saved my life," she told 'Today' in the interview.

Zwerner told Guthrie she will "never forget" the look on her student's face when he pointed the gun at her. She added that her first thought after being shot was to "get my babies out of there."

"I was terrified. In that moment my initial reaction was, 'your kids need to get out of here. This is not a safe classroom anymore. And then you need to go find help for yourself,' " Zwerner said.

She added that the rest of her students were "screaming" and "extremely frightened" after the shooting.

Zwerner successfully ushered the class of first graders out of the classroom before she made it to the school's office and "passed out."

Police said at the time that the student intentionally brought the gun, which belonged to his mother, to school.

Hours before the shooting, a school official told a school administrator that he had heard the student might have brought the gun to school, local outlet WAVY reported at the time. School staff then searched the student's bag but didn't find anything.

Zwerner told Guthrie that school administrators were warned three times that the student had a gun but that they didn't do anything about it. She said that while the day started off as normal, she started "hearing things and things started happening that made my fear grow."

Her attorney, Diane Toscano, filed a legal notice showing their intent to sue the school administrators. They argue the school's officials "failed to take action" when told that a student had brought a gun to school, according to 'Today.'

Toscano said she plans to file the lawsuit in two weeks.

Zwerner said she felt she could have been better protected by the school and that they could have done more.

Prosecutors investigating the incident announced they would not be pressing charges against the six-year-old boy, NBC News reported. Prosecutors have not announced whether they will charge adults involved in the case.