4 juveniles to be charged after SRO’s rifle stolen, high school vandalized

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — Four juveniles will be charged after a school resource officer’s rifle was stolen from a high school in Rowan County when it was broken into and vandalized.

On Jan. 2, Rowan County sheriff’s deputies were called to East Rowan High School for a breaking and entering call.

Surveillance video shows four people breaking into a classroom window around midnight. Deputies said they entered offices, classrooms, bathrooms, and locker rooms.

Investigators said the four vandalized different areas of the high school by “spray-painting graffiti on exterior walls, breaking toilets, sinks, turning over chairs and desks, breaking into vending machines and pouring gallon cans of paint onto walls and floors.”

The juveniles also went into the school resource officer’s office, deputies said. They drilled the lock and pried open the safe containing the SRO’s rifle, stealing the gun and a protective vest from the safe.

The four juveniles were quickly identified and charges against them are pending, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies found the rifle and vest the same day the crime was reported.

The sheriff’s office said although the gun was properly secured, they’ll take more steps in the future to make sure it can’t be accessed and won’t leave the guns in schools after hours.

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