CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Officials said a 14-year-old has been charged with bringing a loaded gun to South Mecklenburg High School Tuesday afternoon.
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Authorities said the student was showing the weapon off to other classmates around 12 p.m. on campus.
Sources told Channel 9 that the gun was a fully loaded 25-caliber handgun with one round in the chamber.
"This is why I don't have my son in school anymore,” parent Amanda Pressley said. “He does online classes because it's just terrifying for students to have to worry about going through that every day."
Officials said they’re still trying to determine why the teenager brought the gun to school, but they believe he may have bought it for protection.
This comes just a month after the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District began implementing new security screenings at randomly selected high schools. Officials said this weapon was not found because of a screening.
"It makes you wonder how many more measures can they really take to make sure everybody is really secure," parent Colette Evans said.