Sheriff and school officials discuss recent gun incident

Police officials held a news conference Wednesday afternoon pledging their support for the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School System following a shooting incident at Parkland High School on Tuesday. Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough said, “We were blessed yesterday.” Winston-Salem Forsyth’s principal says she is very grateful that nothing worse happened, but she is outraged that a student even brought a gun to Parkland High School have. Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neil says a student has been charged with having a weapon on school property and that law enforcement is taking a firm line on bringing guns to school. Superintendent Tricia McManus says a male student carried the gun in his book bag. McManus says while the student was in the cafeteria, the gun went off. The bullet penetrated the book bag, ricocheted off the floor and shrapnel hit a student in the leg, but at the time no one knew what had happened. Even the video surveillance shows that no one knew about the dangerous incident, says the inspector. They believe the backpack muffled the noise. It wasn’t until later that day, when the student went to the doctor for leg pain, that splinters were discovered on the outside of her sweatpants. An investigation was then launched. This is the latest in a series of incidents in Parkland that have included bomb threats earlier this year, and recently a student was arrested when a video of him slapping a substitute teacher went viral. McManus says, “This situation is different than some others.” However, this was a random situation caused by a really bad decision by a student that could have been prevented. And if our student needs help, if they are facing any problems at school, that would be a problem. They think they need to bring a weapon or something else to immediately seek out a trusted adult. “Ben Curiale has a son who attends Parkland. He says his son doesn’t feel safe at school. “My son woke up and said, ‘I don’t want to go to school. I don’t feel safe at all.’ So we had to go to school. He said, “I don’t feel safe.” And I’ve talked to a lot of parents I know here and they felt their kids were the same way. “Every middle and high school in the Forsyth County school system has metal detectors, but they are used indiscriminately and not every day.” Jonathan Wilson, the school system’s chief security and emergency management officer, confirmed they were on Tuesday when the gun was fired Brought to campus were not used. There was extra security on campus Wednesday and metal detectors were used as students entered the school. Sheriff Kimbrough also said there was an altercation on campus this morning, but would not elaborate on the incident. Sheriff Kimbrough says his office has responded to 69 incidents in Parkland this year.