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Principal: Arrested teens unconnected to rumor of Fayetteville school shooting

Four teens arrested Friday near Seventy-First High School in Fayetteville with a gun in their car aren't connected to rumor of a planned shooting at the school, Principal Myron Williams said Monday.

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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Four teens arrested Friday near Seventy-First High School in Fayetteville with a gun in their car aren't connected to rumor of a planned shooting at the school, Principal Myron Williams said Monday.

Michael Lyndell Canery, 18, of the 4500 block of Ruby Road, Trevon Daquwn Lance, 18, of the 1900 block of United Drive, Jahke Chymis Smith, 17, of the 3500 block of Worley Street, and Shammond William Virgil, 18, of the 2000 block of Osceola Drive, were each charged with illegally having a weapon on school property. Lance also was charged with marijuana possession.

Canery is a student at Alger B. Wilkins High School, while Lance and Smith are students at E.E. Smith High School, police said. Virgil is a former E.E. Smith High student.

Williams said one of the four routinely hosts house parties, and the group was at Seventy-First High on Friday to take a photo with a student for a promotional flier.

The school resource officer at Seventy-First High spotted a Jaguar in the school bus parking lot with four people inside, but the car drove off when he approached, police said.

The resource officer had received a tip earlier in the week about the planned shooting at the school, and word had been spreading on social media about a retaliation shooting, police said.

The Jaguar parked at a McDonald's across Raeford Road from the high school, and Williams said the group called the Seventy-First High student to try to arrange the photo for the promotional flier.

A Fayetteville police officer then approached the car, smelled marijuana and searched the vehicle and the four occupants, police said. The officer found a small bag of marijuana in the pocket of a passenger and a .25-caliber handgun under the front passenger seat, police said.

"There was validity to the situation, and it was just a coincidence that these individuals pulled up on this particular day and they found a weapon in the vehicle," Willaims said.

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