Two people were injured in a shooting Friday night that forced fans, players and coaches to leave the game between Tarboro High School and South West Edgecombe High School in Pinetops.
The game was evacuated with 1:58 remaining in the third quarter.
Other WRAL Top Stories
In Friday night's coverage, WRAL Sports reporter Pat Welter—who was at the school covering the game—said at least one person, at the time, was injured in the shooting.
Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office confirmed Saturday morning that two people, a 17-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl, were injured in the shooting. Deputies did not provides details on what led up to the shooting.
Welter said the ambulance was already on the field to deal with a player who was hurt and one of the victims walked to the the ambulance from the concession stands.
Deputies said both of the injured teenagers were taken to the hospital and appear to be in stable condition.
Officials with Edgecombe County Public Schools released a statement on Sunday following Friday night’s incident.
“Our thoughts are with all who were affected. The safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community remain our highest priority,” the statement read in part.
Officials said additional law enforcement officers will be on school campuses this week out of an abundance of caution. Officials also remind families and students they are “taking every step possible to ensure that our schools remain safe learning environments.”
Counseling services will also be available for students in need of support.
“We also recognize that events like this can be difficult for students to process,” the statement continued. “Please encourage your child to reach out to a teacher, counselor, or administrator if they would like to talk with someone.”
The Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office said no one is in custody and they are asking for public assistance to help them identify a suspect.
'Everybody just started rushing'
Wiley Staton and his fiancé are alumni from both high schools who just wanted see a good rivalry game before it broke into chaos. While they didn't see what exactly happened, Staton said they were about 200 feet away from it and could hear the one gun shot.
"It's just sad that you can't go to a high school football game in today's society without something like this happening," Staton said.
Staton and his fiancé watched the chaos ensued as they sat in their spots to avoid being hurt in the commotion. He said that people were getting knocked down as others were trying to run out.
John Jeffreys and his daughter were at the game
"It was just a single pop, and everybody stood up and froze for a moment and everybody just started rushing," said Jeffreys.
Eyewitnesses tell WRAL they heard a single gunshot come from the concession stand of SouthWest Edgecombe's football stadium.
Jeffreys was away from his daughter when the gunfire broke out. He became emotional describing his scramble to find her.
"Just worried about the kids. With all that's going on, I just wanted to have them all together," said Jeffreys.
"I was scared, and it was just very overwhelming because all you see is people running," said Bailee Aycock, 15, who attended the game.
Fans worry security at games not enough despite new weapons detection systems
Staton said that the high school had some security measures in place, such as a police presence and metal detectors. But he said that because it is a smaller venue, it's easier to get anything through a chain link fence.
"You can't blame security, police department, the sheriff's department, for not doing their job because they were trying to do their job," he said. "When people want to cause chaos, they're going to cause chaos."
SW Edgecombe High School is one of other schools across the state that uses EVOLV weapons detectors. Welter said that there were at least two detectors being used at the entrance of the game.
Jeffreys says metal detectors were in use at the main gates but believes other entry points weren't as heavily monitored.
"You can come up from the back side and you can get in here and you can get weapons in here, obviously," said Jeffreys. "...there was security right there on top of it when it happened."
Edgecombe deputies said that despite the security being in place, someone still managed to get a weapon into the stadium. As a result, Edgecombe County Public Schools and the ECSO will review safety and security procedures, and that review is already underway.
Staton added that his fiancé doesn't believe she'll go to another football game.
"You don't want to live in a society like that, you don't want to live in fear," he remarked. "With everything going on with this past week, it makes you wonder what state people's minds are...because not everybody carries a gun for protection. You got just as many that carry them that shouldn't carry them."
Welter spoke to coaches with both teams, who said they did not plan to finish the game after the shooting. The game went to Tarboro, 14-0.
This incident comes weeks after multiple fights broke out into shots fired at a football game at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School, and after a former Rolesville High principal was shot on East Nelson Avenue.
Detectives asked anyone saw anything during the incident to contact Detective Holloman at 252-641-7911.
WRAL reporters Pat Welter, Kirstyn Clark and Flynn Snyder contributed to this report