Former Greensboro assistant principal charged after firing shot at school
Charlie Wardell Smith, a former Hairston Middle assistant principal, was charged after police say he fired a shot into the air on school property during a May 25 alarm response.
A former assistant principal at Hairston Middle School in Greensboro was charged with discharging a firearm on educational property after firing a shot into the air during a May 25 response to an activated alarm at the campus. Charlie Wardell Smith, 54, received the charge by criminal summons, and the case became public July 7.
Smith told investigators he went to the school after getting a call about the alarm and canceled the police response because he was already close to campus. He said he encountered an intruder who ran outside, then fired a shot into the air, away from the person, in an effort to scare the intruder off. No students or other staff members were at Hairston Middle School, 3911 Naco Road, at the time, and no one was injured.
The charge falls under North Carolina General Statutes Section 14-269.2, the state law that covers weapons on campus and other educational property. Educational property includes school buildings, campuses, grounds, recreational areas, athletic fields and other property owned, used or operated by a school board. Hairston Middle School is part of Guilford County Schools.
Smith has since resigned from his position. The available public notice and police account do not identify the intruder, say whether the alarm was confirmed as a break-in, or indicate whether any additional charges were filed tied to the intrusion.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
