South Meck HS locked down for hours after student shot at CATS bus stop

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police are investigating after they said a teenager was shot Thursday morning near a CATS bus stop in south Charlotte.

Officers were called to the scene on Hamlin Park Drive near the Quail Corners Shopping Center on Park Road around 8 a.m. and found a 17-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg.

MEDIC told Channel 9 that victim was taken to the hospital with serious injuries but police said he would be OK.

Police identified the teen as Ashton White, 17. White was charged with possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

(Ashton White)

Witnesses told Channel 9 that the White was getting off the CATS bus when a gun that was in his waistband went off, striking him in the leg, but police said the teen told them he was shot by someone he didn't know.

Student Isaac Frazier heard the gunfire and spotted the teenager on the ground with a gunshot wound to his leg.

"It was just a big loud popping noise," Frazier said. "He was bleeding and he said he had shot himself. It might have gone off in his pants. I never saw the gun, I'm not sure."

CMS police told Channel 9 that White is a student at South Mecklenburg High School. The school was placed on lockdown, where students were kept in their classroom for hours.

"We couldn't use the restrooms," student Nicklas Beckmann said. "The teahcers had to escort us to the bathrooms. We weren't able to eat lunch in the cafeteria. They brought us lunch. We just sat and did nothing for seven hours."

Additional officers have been assigned to the high school as a precaution. Police are still working to confirm the circumstances behind the shooting, and have not yet found a gun.

Students who could not get into the high school because of the lockdown were gathered at the shopping center.

"They told us they couldn't let nobody in because it was a lockdown. They told us to come back when they finished the lockdown but they never finished," student Nigel Brown said.

Parents were kept from going inside the school as well. They said they hope investigators uncover what really happened.

"It's really said, it's really sad," mother Shadeen Oliphant said. "It's no telling what these kids are doing and where they're at. It's almost uncontrollable."

Quail Hollow Middle School and Smithfield Elementary were also placed on lockdown.

The lockdowns were lifted at South Mecklenburg and Smithfield Elementary schools when classes dismissed for the day. The lockdown at Quail Hollow will be lifted at 4:15 p.m. when classes dismiss.

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