Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:
OR
Log in using your WRAL.com account:



Wrong email/password combination.

Forgot password?

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:
OR
Register for a WRAL.com account using our web form.

Login Options

3:52 a.m. • 2-11-12

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Today: Mostly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 52° F
  • Sun: Clear.
    • Hi: 43° F
  • Mon: Mostly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 50° F

Other Locations

> 7 Day Forecast

Doppler Image

Marketplace Links

Social Links

Main Menu

Man in custody after hospital gun scare


e-mail print friendly
hospital surveillance photo
hospital surveillance photo

Henderson police charged a man after a local hospital was put on emergency lockdown for more than an hour Thursday afternoon.

John Christopher Cole, 17, of 315 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Greensboro, was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and underage possession of alcohol.

Maria Parham Medical Center employees saw on a security monitor that a man had retrieved a firearm from an automobile shortly after 12:30 p.m. and was running toward the physicians' entrance to the hospital, police said.

Hospital officials notified police and placed the building on lockdown, allowing officers to conduct a floor-by-floor search.

The man wasn't found in the building, but investigators identified him as a Kerr Vance Academy student, police said.

Investigators went to the school and detained Cole, who turned over a BB gun to them, police said.

At one point, about a dozen police cars were parked outside the hospital, and two were blocking the ambulance entrance.

The lockdown ended shortly before 2 p.m., and police left the hospital.

RELATED TOPICS: Martin Luther King, Jr., Henderson County

e-mail print friendly

64 Comments


WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

View Comments VIEW ALL 64 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments
I attended Kerr Vance Academy when I was a teenager back in the early 90's and it was a nice school with nice smart people. I hope that is still the case. This kind of behavior is not representative of that student body. Hopefully the current headmaster will use good judgment about this situation.

DUDE HAD A BAG OF WEED AND A PELLET GUN..... LMAO I KNOW HE HAD TO BE PARANOID AS ALL GET OUT WHEN THE LAW CAME UP ON HIM.....THIS IS FUNNY TO ME...

"Wow, this guy lives in Greensboro and drives to KVA in Henderson everyday? What in the world? Don't they have schools in Greensboro?"

Maybe he's been kicked out of all of them.....

Wow, this guy lives in Greensboro and drives to KVA in Henderson everyday? What in the world? Don't they have schools in Greensboro?

"Nope, still don't need no sensible restrictions on Gun ownership. the current free for all is working just fine....... haggis basher"

Lets change it up a little with other things that can be deadly:

"Nope, still don't need no sensible restrictions on Car ownership. the current free for all is working just fine....... haggis basher"..

"Nope, still don't need no sensible restrictions on Knife ownership. the current free for all is working just fine....... haggis basher"

"Nope, still don't need no sensible restrictions on Lawnmower ownership. the current free for all is working just fine....... haggis basher"

"Nope, still don't need no sensible restrictions on Match ownership. the current free for all is working just fine....... haggis basher"

"Nope, still don't need no sensible restrictions on Swimming Pool ownership. the current free for all is working just fine....... haggis basher"

View Comments VIEW ALL 64 COMMENTS
Report It

Multimedia

Click Here