Crime

Shooting At Mount Tabor High School In Winston-Salem

by Associated Press and WFDD Staff

Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough at a press conference Wednesday after a shooting at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem with Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson, and WS/FCS Superintendent Tricia McManus. Screenshot courtesy of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.
UPDATED 6:23 p.m.

Officials say one student was killed in a shooting at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem Wednesday. According to authorities, the suspect – also a student at Mount Tabor – has now been taken into custody without incident. 

Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson confirmed the death at an afternoon press conference.

Thompson, who was visibly upset, told reporters student ​​William Chavis Raynard Miller Jr. died after being transferred to a hospital after the shooting.

“Our prayers and thoughts go out to the family of our deceased students, our Mount Tabor family, and our Winston Salem Forsyth County family,” said Thompson.

Thompson says no threat exists to Mount Tabor High School at this time.

The high school was placed on lockdown immediately after the incident, as were several other schools in the area. All of those lockdowns have now been lifted. 

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.”

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.

The city tweeted that parents should not respond to the school but go to a nearby grocery store and await further instructions for picking up students.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools have been contacting parents throughout the day. The incident at Mount Tabor prompted other schools to go on lockdown, which has since been lifted, and the school district says these measures are purely precautionary and students on all of these campuses are safe. Numerous delays in the bus transportation system were also expected.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the shooting, according to the agency's Charlotte office.

 

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