Teen shot, killed at Winston-Salem high school, another student arrested

William Chavis Raynard Miller Jr., was shot inside Mount Tabor High School shortly after noon, authorities said. He died at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

The gunman, who authorities believe was another student, was arrested without incident shortly after 6 p.m., the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said.

"It is a sad day, but we will get through this together," Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough said at an evening news conference. "The Miller family needs your prayers now. The children at the school need your prayers – they were traumatized. Our community needs your prayers."

Both Kimbrough and Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson got choked up during the news conference, but Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill appeared to be more angry than somber.

"When each of us, including myself, sends our kids out to school in the morning, we want to know and believe they are safe," O'Neill said. "We take zero tolerance on violence committed in any of our schools."

Even though he had to stop several times to compose himself as he discussed the shooting, Kimbrough said he, too, was angered by the incident.

"While I'm sad, I'm also mad as hell," he said. "I felt the pain [and] the tears of [Miller's] mother. My concern was to console her ... and let her know that she had the full support of our community."

Law enforcement officers swarmed Mount Tabor High, at 342 Petree Road, minutes after the shooting and locked it down. Other students were safe and in "secure locations" inside the school as law enforcement officers combed the building searching for the shooter, Kimbrough said.

No other students were hurt in the shooting, although paramedics treated several for anxiety, the sheriff said.

Many nearby schools also were locked down as a precaution when the shooter was on the run, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Tricia McManus said.

After authorities accounted for all students in the school, the students were bused to several nearby locations to be reunited with their parents.

But some parents were frustrated by the four-hour delay between the shooting and when they could see their children.

“I’m glad she’s not injured, but the fact is that she’s hurting and she’s scared and she doesn’t know what to do and she doesn’t know what’s going on because none of the officials are talking to these children – none of them,” parent Arlene Adams said. "I'm upset that I can't get to her. I'm upset that she can't get to me."

Another parent, Kyle Armentrout, said he was thankful his daughter was home safe, NBC affiliate WXII reports. While Armentrout's son, Owen, was not at school when the shooting happened, his daughter, Caroline, was. He said she was sheltering in place in a classroom but was able to text.

"She was saying, 'Hey, there is an active shooter,'" Armentrout said. "Of course, she is relaying what she is hearing from the other kids in the class as well."

Owen Armentrout, a senior, said he had left Mount Tabor High a few minutes before the shooting started.

"I pulled over into a lot and was kind of scared, so I was asking her about what was going on, and I was also scared for all my friends at Tabor," he said.

"Not only don't you think it's going to happen at your school, but you don't think it is going to happen in your community," added Kyle Armentrout. "I mean, this is really a small community and tight-knit relationships. All you can have is hope that tomorrow starts the healing process for the school and the community."

The shooting was the second in three days at a North Carolina high school.

Gov. Roy Cooper tweeted that more must be done to keep guns out of schools.

"We must work to ensure the safety of students and educators," he tweeted.

"Only days into the school year, another senseless act of gun violence has resulted in the loss of a child’s life," Sandra Hairston, acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, said in a statement. "We must, together, find ways to put an end to the epidemic of gun violence in our schools."