Cape Fear High School Shooting: Two Teens in Custody
A teen girl was shot in the neck during lunch at Cape Fear High School.
Oct. 24, 2011— -- Two teens are in custody in the shooting of a 15-year-old girl today at a North Carolina high school, police said this evening.
Surveillance video helped them identify Ta'Von McLaurin, 18, and a 15-year-old whose name has not been released because of his age, Cumberland County Sheriff Earl "Moose" Butler said this evening at a news conference.
Charges are expected to be filed against the two once police are finished questioning them, Butler said.
Police found a .22 Daisy rifle and shell casings on the grounds of Cape Fear High School, near Fayetteville, where the shooting occured at around 1 p.m.
Caitlyn Abercrombie, 15, who was eating lunch outside the school, was shot in the neck. According to ABC affiliate station WTVD-TV in Raleigh, witnesses said they heard a popping sound and saw her fall over, but no one saw anyone with a gun.
"No one has seen anyone on this campus with a gun," Butler told WTVD-TV.
Abercrombie was taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, where she underwent surgery. She was listed in stable condition this evening, WTVD-TV reported.
Cumberland County Superintendent Franklin Till said it was a normal, quiet lunch period when shots broke out. He said there was no suspicious activity going on before the shooting.
Cape Fear High School and nearby Mac Williams Middle School were placed on lockdown after the shooting.
Parents who gathered outside the school to wait for their children told WTVD-TV there was speculation about gang-related activity, and that an incident that occurred earlier this month might have been related to today's shooting.
School officials and police, however, said that gang activity was not related to the shooting.