HUNTERSVILLE, NC. — Increased police presence and a safety screening at Hopewell High School Thursday after police found a stolen gun and a loaded gun on campus a day earlier. Sophomore Bayley Schaefer says no one spoke in the hallways between periods and was rushing to get to class.
“There was like a lot of cops, but it was kind of just like scary at the same time knowing that it could happen whenever,” Schaefer says.
Twenty-four hours later, we know a brawl started in a hallway, police say, after an attempted robbery occurred between students. During the chaos, a gun falls on the floor, and at one point, a student picked it back up. Police didn’t find that gun until dismissal time when a student told a bus driver they saw another student with a gun on the bus. During the search for the weapon, they found a loaded gun in another student’s backpack. Three 17-year-olds, a 16-year-old, and a 15-year-old are charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds.
Rhonda Cheek represents the Hopewell area on the CMS Board of Education. She says the district is looking into metal detectors, ramping up security screenings, and better communication strategies with parents when something happens, and:
“The idea of clear backpacks has been discussed, similar to what you have to take to the Panthers games,” Cheek adds.
