WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — It’s been a year since the deadly shooting inside Mt. Tabor High School in Winston-Salem. 15-year-old William Miller Junior died that day. He was shot by another student. Miller was the target and the only victim and while other students were not injured, what happened that day will never be forgotten by them, their parents, school staff, neighbors in the area, and law enforcement.
RELATED: Mount Tabor to dedicate tree to William Miller Jr. on one-year anniversary of deadly shooting
WFMY News 2 looks back at how the day of worry, fear, chaos, confusion, and waiting played out.
It was right around lunchtime, September 1, 2021.
"I was in the classroom and I hear people screaming by the bathroom, then I heard 2 gunshots go off. I heard some people say "he's shot" and then say "he's hit”, said freshman Jabray Couthen.
An active shooter inside Mt. Tabor High School in Winston-Salem.
"Our teacher told us that we needed to get on the floor under our desk and he turned the lights off. That's kind of when it got really real," said senior Mathew Maynard.
Students started texting their parents:
We're on lockdown at school and it's not a drill and we heard there was a gunshot. The timestamp was 12:11 pm.
Intersections near the school were blocked. Police lined the neighborhood streets leading up to the school, and worried parents waited across the street.
"The longer the time dragged on and on and on we were all wondering when is this actually going to end,” said Maynard’s dad.
Maynard said once they were taken out of the classrooms, they sat waiting for nearly 6 hours.
In the meantime, parents and neighbors held hands and prayed, hoping to see their kids safe and alive.
Police searched the school room by room. It was taking hours. Meanwhile, parents were told to wait at several different places as a staging area, causing confusion.
“I'm just nervous right now because we don't know where our children are, if they're safe. I just don't know what's going on at this time,” said one mom.
Confusion turned to chaos as a disturbance in the parking lot caused panic. At one point, people claimed a second shooter was in the parking lot. It was just a rumor.
Finally, more than six hours after the first 911 call, students were on their way to meet up with their parents.
With a police escort, the school buses carried students to the Joel Coliseum.
"We are standing here today with you and with you. It could've been the other way around. It could've been that we were trying to make plans at the cemetery,” said a grandmother to her grandkids.
Answered prayers for most parents, except one. 15-year-old William Miller Junior died. Investigators charged a fellow student with his death, Maurice Evans Junior. Attorneys say the two teens had a long-standing feud.
