Gun arrest at South Garner High triggers lockdown, worries parents

A gun arrest at South Garner High School sent parents across southeast Wake County scrambling Thursday as police said an 18-year-old was found with a firearm in the school parking lot. Garner police identified the student as Jayden Curtis and said he was charged as an adult after officers responded to the report of a student with a loaded gun. CBS 17 reported the incident happened about 10:40 a.m., and later coverage said the weapon was a 9mm gun with a 3D-printed handle.

Curtis was charged with gun on educational property, altered or removed gun serial number, resisting an officer, maintaining a vehicle or dwelling for controlled substances, simple possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana paraphernalia. No students or staff members were hurt.

For families, the bigger question was not only what police found, but how quickly the campus was secured and whether the lockdown gave parents a clear answer about safety. The available details show that the arrest unfolded on a school day already marked by anxiety, with law enforcement and school administrators moving fast once the report came in. The episode fit a pattern that has kept school safety front and center in Wake County, where parents have repeatedly been asked to trust lockdown protocols in moments when information is still limited.

The fear was not isolated to Garner. Southern Middle School in Aberdeen was placed on a soft lockdown the same day after reports of a possible shooter on campus, and WRAL said the school was put on lockdown after someone made a threat over the phone. ABC11 reported that multiple agencies responded, including the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Moore County Sheriff's Office, Aberdeen Police Department and Moore County Schools Police Department.

Aberdeen Police Chief Brian Chavis said officers forced entry by breaking a window, but no shooter was found inside. Deputies and troopers searched the surrounding area and found no active threat. Counseling services were made available, student checkout for the rest of the day was moved to the bus parking lot, and officials said one student passed out during the lockdown but no one was hurt. WRAL also reported that additional police officers would remain on campus for the rest of the school day.

The contrast between the two incidents shows how school systems now have to answer two questions at once: how to stop a threat and how to communicate clearly enough to keep parents from filling in the blanks themselves. In an earlier South Garner case, Garner parent Delon Fletcher, a member of the Safer Schools Parent Advisory Committee, said, “school safety is everybody’s problem.” Thursday’s arrest made that warning feel immediate again.