Fight at Wilmington high school leaves one student shot, another arrested

The shooting occurred just after 11 a.m. at New Hanover High School, at 1307 Market St., prompting authorities to lock down and later evacuate the school.

"I saw so many people getting thrown around," junior Aiden Wright told WRAL News. "There was a lot of kids screaming [and] throwing things. There were some people crying."

One student suffered a non-life-threatening wound and was being treated at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. The student's condition wasn't available Monday afternoon.

Wright said that, when he heard gunshots, he thought the school was in an active-shooter situation.

"I just ran to my classroom that I was supposed to go to," he said.

While Wright hid, his mother, a teacher at the school, had her students shelter in place.

"It was very traumatic for a lot of these kids and for us, too," teacher Jennifer Wright said. "We are just trying to get back to normal, and it is kind of a shock that we went through something like this at the start of a school year."

A 15-year-old student, identified by New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon as Chance Deablo, faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, possession of a weapon on school grounds and discharging a firearm on school grounds.

"This is something that we are not going to tolerate," McMahon said at a news conference. "Our schools need to be the safest place for our children to be."

"We were lucky today," Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo agreed. "[For] a person to take matters into their own hands and start shooting a gun in a crowded school is unfathomable."

New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David said the teen has initially been charged as a juvenile, but the case could be moved to adult court because of the severity of the crime.

New Hanover County Schools Superintendent Charles Foust called the shooting "a sad day" for the district.

"Nothing matters to us more than student safety," Foust said. "If we don't get that right, then everything else we're working toward as educators falls short."

District officials plan to review the incident in the coming weeks to determine if any changes are needed, he said.

Classes at New Hanover High are canceled Tuesday, and a crisis team will be at the school to work with teachers, Principal Phillip Sutton said. Counselors will also be available for any students who need to talk to someone.

Both Jennifer and Aiden Wright called New Hanover High safe and said they had never seen a gun inside the school before Monday.

After the shooting, deputies escorted students to nearby Williston Middle School, and then parents were allowed to pick them up at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center. Sutton said no bags were checked or other investigatory steps taken during that process.

Saffo vowed to put an end to senseless gun violence.

"This culture of retaliation has got to stop. We're going to use our resources to make sure it stops," he said. "We will come after you if you continue to take the law into your own hands."