Police Identify Student Killed in Shooting at Butler High School

A student who was shot and killed on Oct. 29 at a North Carolina high school has been identified as 16-year-old Bobby McKeithen.

Bobby, a sophomore at Butler High School in Matthews, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but later died.

The gunman has been identified as Jatwan Cuffie, also 16, according to a Fox News report, citing Matthews police.

Jatwan Cuffie, a fellow student at Butler High, faces charges of first-degree murder.

The shooting came after an altercation in one of the school’s main hallways before classes on Monday morning. The fight was broken up by the school’s resource officer, who engaged the single shooter, police said.

A witness sent text messages to his or her mother at 7:13 a.m., which show the student had fled the scene.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) Superintendent Dr. Clayton Wilcox said the incident had been preceded by bullying.

“The conflict became bullying that escalated. Fear took over,” said CMS Superintendent Clayton Wilcox during a press conference Monday. “A young person brought a gun to solve a problem.”

“We are incredibly saddened that we had a loss of life on one of our campuses,” Wilcox said. “And what makes it doubly worse is it was one of our students who was the shooter.”

‘Kids Wrestling’

One student said that he was in the cafeteria eating breakfast when he witnessed the fight that led to the shooting.

“We hear the bell ring and I see two kids are wrestling,” said Lane McNary. “I’m right there, I hear pop, pop, pop, and everyone’s running, people are trampling over each other.”

“It was right there in front of me,” he added, noting that a number of students fled the scene and ducked into nearby classrooms.

Wilcox told reporters outside the school that the fight took place in a hallway and said “many kids” were nearby when it took place, reported the Charlotte Observer.

Authorities imposed a lockdown immediately after the shooting.

“Our decision to keep kids in school was toward one goal, to keep our kids safe and arrange transportation. What would parents have said to us if we let kids run out and didn’t know where they were?” said Wilcox, according to the report.

Review of Policies and Procedures

CMS does not have metal detectors in schools and does not search students for weapons. Wilcox vowed to review of policies and procedures in the wake of the killing.

“I can’t promise miracles, but I can promise that we'll move heaven and earth to keep our kids safe,” Wilcox said, according to Fox.

“We worked really hard on school security the last six or seven months,” Wilcox said, The Observer reported. “We will review procedures and security plans and perhaps will do things that are a little more aggressive.”

“We don’t actively search every bag that comes into school each and every day. I will tell you from one perspective, yes we failed. Maybe we didn’t intervene early enough in a bullying situation. I don’t really know what took place,” Wilcox said. “I don’t know how a young person gets a handgun in the state of North Carolina but we'll look into all those things and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Authorities Speak Out

Parents of Butler High School students were sent a message on Monday by school authorities: “The single shooter has been apprehended and the weapon is in the possession of law enforcement. Law enforcement has advised that there is no further immediate danger at this time and initial investigation shows this to be an isolated incident.”

Gov. Roy Cooper shared the following statement, Fox News reported:

“I am heartbroken to hear about today’s school violence that has taken the life of a high school student in Matthews, and my family is praying for this community. I have been in touch with local officials to offer condolences and state support as needed. As we get more information it is critical that we come together to do everything in our power to prevent these incidents from happening and keep guns out of our schools.”