BTW, this hits me personally in two ways. My daughter goes to this school, and it's my understanding that the kid who shot himself is the son of a co-worker.
Posted on Thu, Apr. 19, 2007
DAN TIERNEY
A 16-year-old North Mecklenburg High junior pointed a handgun at two students on campus Wednesday, then drove to a gas station, where he shot himself, police said.
Huntersville police didn't identify the student, who was pronounced dead at Carolinas Medical Center. Police Capt. Michael Kee said the student was upset over an ex-girlfriend.
School leaders put North Meck on lockdown about 12:45 p.m. for about an hour, along with nearby Blythe Elementary, Alexander Middle and Lake Norman Charter. No one else was injured.
Kee said the student drove at about 12:30 p.m. to a North Meck student parking lot near an outdoor area called "The Pavilion," where students eat lunch. He then took the gun out of his truck and pointed it at two male students, one of whom police believe had dated the ex-girlfriend, Kee said.
The student then drove off while the two students told school resource officers about the confrontation. North Meck Principal Joey Burch then ordered the lockdown and police were called.
About an hour after the lockdown began, Kee said, the student was found at a Citgo gas station on Statesville Road. The student sat in his pickup and showed his gun to officers as they approached from behind.
The officers asked him repeatedly to drop the gun, Kee said. But the student pointed the gun at himself and fired once.
Burch wouldn't comment on the student's behavior or past. Huntersville Police Chief Philip Potter said a sergeant in his department had seen the student doing volunteer work with Special Olympics and "spoke very kindly of his work."
CMS spokeswoman Nora Carr said Burch had recorded a phone message to send to parents of the school's 3,000-plus students prior to the televised news conference by Huntersville Police. But just before the news conference, Burch learned the teenager had died. He didn't send out the message because relatives of the teen needed to be notified first.
Burch recorded another message after the news conference summarizing events of the day for parents, who received it late Wednesday afternoon, Carr said.
Steve Schultze, who said his 16-year-old son was one of the teens who was threatened, said he was upset he didn't hear promptly about the incident from school officials.
Schultze said he had heard of a lockdown on campus from news accounts, but didn't know of the gun incident.
"I think they should have called me right away -- at least say, `come and get your son, he was threatened...' " Schultze said. "You would think they would have reacted a little better with the parents after seeing what had just happened in Virginia."
He said he plans to go to the school today with the parent of the other student who was threatened. He said he already was concerned about safety at the school because of past incidents, including fights.
Jaye Soss, a North Meck PTA board member and parent of a junior, said "it sounds like everyone's on a higher level of alert" following this week's Virginia Tech shootings. She believes North Meck leaders handled Wednesday's incident appropriately. "It sounded like they had it under control to me."
Another North Meck parent, Patty Reynolds, said she has never worried about safety there.
"North Meck appears to do a very good job at assessing a situation and making decisions rather quickly as far as whether the school should be put on lockdown," Reynolds said. "I think they handled it appropriately again today."
"It looks like it worked as well as it could in this case," CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman said of the emergency procedures. "Unfortunately, it didn't avert a tragedy in the end." -- Staff Writers Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and April Bethea contributed.
Gorman: Safety Plans Under ReviewCharlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman said Wednesday the school system is reviewing campus safety plans, in light of this week's Virginia Tech shootings.
But the superintendent said he and other school leaders realize there are limits to any safety plan.
"How can you stop something exactly like that?" he asked, referring to the Virginia Tech case. "It's tough to answer."
Gorman also raised the possibility that metal detectors might be needed at some point, in some schools.
"I don't think we're at that point yet, and I'd hate to get to that point," he said. "I don't want it to be like the airport, where you've got long lines to get in. But we have to look at all possibilities, and that's one of them."
Gorman said he is perplexed by how easy it is for youths to get guns. He told of recently visiting a school for youths who have broken the law and talking to a student about getting guns.
"He told me he could get a gun within 30 minutes, if he wanted one," Gorman said. "What does that say about our community -- that you can get a gun within 30 minutes?"
-- Steve Lyttle
Article
