A student died in a shooting inside a high school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina Wednesday, bringing panic among students, faculty and parents as several schools in the district locked down for hours.
Police immediately rushed to Mount Tabor High School after a school officer reported a shooting around 12:06 p.m., Winston Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson said.
One student was transported to a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound, where he died of his injuries.
The suspected shooter - another student - is now under custody, police said Wednesday evening. The incident was the second school shooting in the state in three days.
"We experienced something that we see on television across the country," The Dispatch quoted Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines as saying. "Today, we're facing it head on."
In a statement, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Department said a suspect from the shooting has been arrested without incident, after being at large for hours after the shooting.
The investigation is ongoing and more information will be released as appropriate, the FCSD said.
Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough, who joined officers at the school on the first call, identified the dead student as William Chavis Raynard Miller Jr. Kimbrough said he met with Miller's family at the hospital.
There were two police officers inside the school premises when the shooting occurred, Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough said. Additional officers were dispatched to the building "within minutes," Superintendent Tricia McManus said.
"We have a mother and family who won't be able to hug their child tonight," Thompson said during a news briefing.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and in the difficult days to come," the Winston-Salem Police Department said.
No one else suffered any injuries, police said, but some students sustained trauma-related health problems, including one who suffered a seizure.
Parents have been directed to avoid the school and have been instead advised to proceed to the Harris Teeter Shopping Center to rejoin their children.
Mount Tabor High School's estimated 1,000 students have been advised to go to the site in batches, Chris Runge, public information officer for Winston-Salem-Forsyth County Schools, told WXII.
