Fayetteville mom wants answers after her son, 7, allowed to leave school alone

The mother of a 7-year-old is demanding answers after her second grader was allowed to walk home from school.. and ended up three miles in the wrong direction.

Posted 1:43 a.m. Dec 5, 2019 — Updated 1:53 a.m. Dec 5, 2019

Gilbert Baez

, WRAL reporter

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The mother of a 7-year-old boy who was reported missing is demanding answers after her son was allowed to walk home from school Tuesday and ended up traveling three miles in the wrong direction before a stranger found him and called for help.

Raphael Jackson, a second grader enrolled at T.C. Berrien Elementary School in Fayetteville, left W.T. Brown Elementary in Spring Lake for the day and embarked on a journey that took him far from home.

All of the students at Berrien Elementary are attending school 10 miles away while repairs for mold are being made at their school.

The boy had to cross busy N.C. Highway 210 to get to the Skyland Shopping Center.

From there, he walked north on N.C. Highway 24 and ended up at a gas station, which is where a nurse found him and contacted police.

Kiara Hardin says she still can't believe what happened to her son.

"I'm on the phone and I'm screaming where's Raphael?"she said. "I'm calling neighbors (and asking) is he on the bus? Raphey's nowhere."

Hardin, who works at a plant in Robeson County, told WRAL News that the boy asked his teacher if he could walk home from school and the teacher said yes.

Hardin says someone always picks her son up from school.

"It just so happens that right as I'm getting ready to walk out the plant, they tell me Raphey has been located three miles down the street from where he goes to school," she said.

Hardin says her son traveled across NC-210 and stopped in the Family Dollar store in the Skyland Plaza Shopping Center.

"How he got off campus, I don't know," his mother said, "How he even made it three miles down the street, I don't understand. I know he was almost hit by a car from what they're telling me."

The boy ended up at a Marathon gas station before a pediatric nurse saw him and contacted authorities.

The mother says this is the second time her son went missing from T.C. Berrien.

She says last year Raphael was put on a day care van but wasn't a usual van passenger.

The van's driver returned the child to the school after realizing the mistake.

Now school administrators and teachers are trying to figure out how the boy was able to elude supervision this week and walk away from campus.

School officials say they are looking into the matter.

"We have processes and procedures in place to provide an orderly and safe school dismissal process for our students," school administrators said in a written statement. "District and school officials are investigating this situation to determine exactly what occurred and will respond appropriately."

Hardin says what happened Tuesday just doesn't add up.

"Anyone who is going to T.C. Berrien does not live in Spring Lake," Hardin said. "So why he would walk home makes no sense,"

She said the school official who let the boy leave campus should be held accountable.

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