WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The Mount Tabor community is coming together to grieve after a student was killed at Mount Tabor High School.
On Thursday, Mount Tabor UMC held a prayer vigil for the community and then Friday, Emmanuel Church of Winston-Salem held a prayer service as well. Emmanuel Church is next to Mt. Tabor High School.
"We love Mount Tabor. Mount Tabor is part of us and we're part of them,” said Emmanuel Church pastor Alex DiPrima. “We feed their football team every year. Wake care packages over there. This is our community. And we feel like Mount Tabor is part of us and so we want to be there for Mount Tabor in their hour of need."
Mother Patricia Glenn, whose son is a student at Mount Tabor High School, said the community support is something she’s thankful for.
“Mount Tabor as a whole is such a close-knit family. We all look out for one another,” said Glenn. “It doesn't matter if your kids are in extracurricular (activities), if they're not. We all just mesh together.”
Glenn went inside the school Friday to help him collect his belongings following the Wednesday shooting.
“It’s daunting because you still see the faces. You see trauma,” said Glenn. “It’s going to take a lot of healing from this point forward.”
DiPrima hopes Emmanuel Church can be there to help the community heal.
"We're here to pray with you. We're here to offer any counsel or guidance or input that we can give that will be helpful to you,” said DePrima. “And again, I think that the best thing we can do for the Mt. Tabor family is to provide that message of hope.”
For Glenn, the shooting and the pandemic have taken a toll on her son.
"It has been a lot. Because it's one of the first things he said Wednesday, ‘Mom we survived COVID,'” said Glenn. “'And to go into the second week of school and to go through this, how much more can we take?’”
As a mother, Glenn is thankful the students had one another during the shooting and is glad the teachers and staff were there to help keep everyone safe.
“Those teachers, that administration, and those children are heroes (…),” said Glenn. It's just a network of love. I commend them all. You couldn't have asked for a better reactionary type atmosphere."