After 2 school shootings this week, Cooper wants more efforts to ensure NC schools safe

"This is a pain and a fear that no child or parent should have to confront simply by having a child going to school," Cooper said during a visit to Winston-Salem, the site of the latest shooting. "School is a place of learning and growth, and we have to do everything we can to keep them free of threats and violence."

Noting that North Carolina has invested resources in recent years to develop extensive safety plans for every public school across the state and practice active-shooter drills, Cooper said it's now time to invest in the people inside the buildings. He called for more spending in early childhood education and "wrap-around" mental health services, including hiring more school counselors and psychologists.

"We've got a lot of things that we haven't done yet that we can do," he said.

Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill also called for expanded after-school activities, including volunteers to run them and mentor youths.

"[There are] a lot of two-parent working homes out here, and there's no one back there watching the child in sixth or seventh grade," he said. "If a child enters a gang in sixth or seventh grade, we've lost them, folks."

O'Neill later declined to say whether the Mount Tabor shooting was gang-related, saying he was speaking in a broader context.

Neither he nor other local authorities would provide specific details of the investigation into the shooting, such as whether a weapon had been located or whether any charges had been filed.

Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough said he didn't know if there was any relationship between the two students that might have prompted the shooting.

"There are a lot of questions that we're still searching for answers," he said.

Mount Tabor High has various security measures in place, Kimbrough said, but he declined to elaborate other than noting two school resource officers were at the school when the shooting occurred. Stopping a gun from getting inside any school is difficult, he added.

"Guns are easily accessible in our society," he said. "In a school that's basically people coming and going with bookbags and so many other things, you can't control that under the current rules, policies and laws that we have in place. There's going to have to be some rethinking, some retooling and doubling down on resources."

Cooper said installing metal detectors at Mount Tabor High or any school would be "a dramatic step," but he said that needs to remain an option.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Tricia McManus said the district doesn't have a policy requiring students to use only clear or mesh backpacks, but she said that also is an option to improve security.

Classes were canceled Thursday at Mount Tabor High. McManus said teachers needed a day to come to grips with the shooting.

"Children's lives are entrusted to us while they're with us for the six hours in a school day, so they're dealing with trauma," she said. "We giving a day for folks to be able to cope and to be able to return in a different place."

In addition to helping teachers, the district has provided an off-campus location for students to meet with counselors as needed, she said.

"I want you to know that it is OK not to be OK today," Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson said. "We are here to help you as you get through this."

Thompson urged parents to keep an eye on their children and to seek help if they notice them struggling in the aftermath of the shooting.

"If you don't know how to help them, call me, call Sheriff Kimbrough, call the school system. We will help you help our kids," she said.

"We will get through this," Kimbrough added. "We won't let fear stop us from moving forward together."