WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A student who was shot at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem has died and the shooting suspect has since been arrested without incident.
Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough identified the deceased student as William Chavis Raynard Miller Jr. He said Miller died from his injuries at Baptist Hospital.“I haven’t cried in a while, but I’ve been crying since I left the hospital,” Kimbrough said.
Police don’t know the shooter’s motive.
The shooting happened Wednesday around noon. Mount Tabor immediately went on lockdown as several law enforcement agencies worked to get students out of the school and reunited with their parents.
The student who was shot was taken to the hospital and later died from his injuries.
No other students were hurt, but one student had a seizure as the shooting occurred.
Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Christina Howell said all other students were safe.
Police blocked roads to the school, which has an enrollment of more than 1,500 students, and numerous emergency vehicles were on the scene. Parents frantic for information parked their cars on the sidewalks several blocks from the school as police directed traffic away from campus. Students and parents could be seen walking toward a nearby shopping center.
Christopher Johnson said his son told him that he heard the gunshots while in the school gym and students were told to hide because there was an active shooter on campus.
“You see stuff like this in the media,” said Johnson, whose son was still at the school awaiting transportation to a pickup point. “It’s scary to know that it actually reached out and touched you this time. My son’s not a victim, but he’s part of this and he’ll probably remember this forever.”
Later, law enforcement vehicles were seen escorting school buses with Mount Tabor students off the campus to be reunited with their parents.
The sheriff’s office said other schools in the area were on lockdown as a precaution but no other shootings or injuries had been reported.
Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement that he has been briefed by law enforcement and noted this was the second school shooting in the state this week. A 15-year-old was charged after a student was shot and wounded during a fight Monday at a Wilmington high school.
“We must work to ensure the safety of students and educators, quickly apprehends the shooter and keep guns off school grounds,” Cooper said.
Police instructed parents to pick up their kids at an undisclosed location. Before that, parents were told to go to the Harris Teeter at the shopping center on North Peace Haven Road in Winston-Salem.