CHARLOTTE — Two days after police arrested a man for allegedly threatening to “shoot up” five schools, dozens of parents and teachers said they are outraged that they weren’t notified by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School district until after Channel 9 broke the story Thursday night.
Court documents state police got a phone call on Sunday about “an email threat regarding a possible shooting” sent from an anonymous email address “to the school principals and administration” of Hawk Ridge Elementary, Community House Middle, and Ardrey Kell and West Charlotte High Schools. A separate affidavit states the staff at Garinger High School received a letter in the mail with similar threats on Monday.
Police arrested Drew Owens, 31, and booked him into jail late Wednesday night on five felony counts of communicating a threat of mass violence on educational property.
Amy Ward, a parent of a Hawk Ridge Elementary student, told Channel 9 she and other parents were afraid “that we would have not received any communication had it not hit the news, and that is infuriating.”
“By not addressing it…it leads to the illusion that it happens so often that this is just standard protocol,” Ward said. “That we just don’t even have to alert parents, because, how often does this happen?”
N.C. Sen. Woodson Bradley, D-Mecklenburg, has a daughter who attends Ardrey Kell and a son who recently graduated from there. She said she also did not get notified of the threats before Channel 9′s story aired.
“I’m not as angry as I am disappointed,” Bradley said.
She said by coincidence, she has been working on legislation in the past two weeks about this exact topic. She said she planned to introduce the bill next week, building off Senate Bill 74, which would have given a parent the right “to know of threats to his or her child’s safety, whether to the child individually or to the school or local school administrative unit as a whole.”
Several elements of North Carolina’s new Parents’ Bill of Rights law cover parental notification.
Bradley initially said she did not “see anything that shows any malfeasance [by CMS],” but later clarified that she does not know if CMS ran afoul of the law.
“The issue with 115C076.45(e) is it’s vague and the CMS question is a legal issue,” Bradley’s office said. “By contrast the S74 legislation proposed by NC Democrats is unambiguous on the rights of parents to be informed on threats.”
The incident has sparked discussions about the need for clearer guidelines on when parents should be notified about threats to school safety, with Bradley saying she plans to be the legislator to help bring that to the forefront.
“We need to weave into the piece notifications that don’t cause panic, that everybody understands what’s going on, so that nobody is caught off guard by a news story,” Bradley said. “That’s just not good for anyone.”
“It’s kind of crazy, to be honest,” one parent told Channel 9′s Evan Donovan Thursday. “We have kids here, and we worry about them just as well as they worry about their kids, so they should let everybody know about what’s going on.”
VIDEO: Channel 9′s Evan Donovan reports.
‘Fear for my life’
One affidavit in the case states that Owens’ parents have been the subject of Drew’s harassment since 2021 -- and more recently, their neighbors.
Court documents state Owens’ father believed Drew was “still upset with him because he kicked Drew out of the house back in 2021 for continued drug and alcohol abuse.” Owens’ father told police that is when Drew started harassing him and his wife with emails and threats.
Police stated that they linked Owens to this week’s emails and letter based on the “verbiage and manner” of the writing compared to those older emails. The affidavit stated the bottom of the email sent to schools this week was signed by Owens’ mother, and that she and Owens’ father, who works at West Charlotte High School, were also recipients of the email, which was sent from an anonymous email address.
When this first began, Owens father told police “he was able to get a restraining order against Drew and Drew was arrested for violating the order but has since dismissed the order,” according to the affidavit.
Since 2021, Drew “has been harassing the rest of the family, neighbors, and other family friends ... threatening to kill and/or shoot up different people and locations,” according to the affidavit, adding that he sat outside their homes and outside of West Charlotte trying to lure his father outside.
“I am constantly in fear for my life,” a neighbor of Owens’ parents told Channel 9′s Glenn Counts on Thursday night, after requesting anonymity due to safety concerns.
VIDEO: Channel 9′s Glenn Counts reports
Channel 9 reached out to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools multiple times, requesting an interview with Superintendent Dr. Crystal Hill, questioning why parents and teachers weren’t notified before Channel 9 broke the story, and asking what guidance the district used in making that decision.
CMS declined the interview request, and continued to refer Channel 9 to CMPD “as they are heading the investigation.”
Channel 9 then asked CMPD whether it advised CMS not to notify parents. A CMPD spokesperson would not comment.
On Friday, the district confirmed that principals at each school that received threats were provided with the same message to share with families. Donovan confirmed with parents and/or teachers at four of the five schools that those messages were sent on Thursday night, about two hours after Channel 9 aired its initial story:
“We are aware that our school was one of several receiving a threat and took appropriate precautions to ensure students and staff remained safe. We continue to cooperate with law enforcement and follow their guidance on what information we can share.
“Any reports of threats or perceived threats are a violation of the Code of Student Conduct. Students in violation will be disciplined accordingly. Persons who make threats and who are not students may face arrest and prosecution under the law. If you or your child are aware of any threats, you are encouraged to report the threats to authorities, tell a trusted adult, or report it on the Say Something app.
“We ask that you continue to partner with us in creating a safe learning environment for all students by reinforcing the seriousness of threats and other situations that may negatively impact the school campus. As always, the safety and well-being of our students and staff is our top priority. Thank you for your continued support.”
Channel 9 also asked if CMS had a school resource officer assigned to Hawk Ridge Elementary School before the alleged incident. CMS said it doesn’t assign SROs permanently to elementary schools, but added that “as a result of the threats received last week, an SRO has been assigned to Hawk Ridge.”
CMS said Hawk Ridge was “the only school that received a threat that does not have an assigned SRO” and that police were on campus last week.
As of Friday night, Owens was still in jail, eligible to be released on a $10,000 secured bond.
(VIDEO: Man accused of threatening to kill students and staff at multiple Charlotte schools)
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