Wake Schools Briefs Safety Committee After Millbrook Gun Incident

Malcolm McIntyre brought a loaded gun to Millbrook Magnet High School on February 25, and a fellow student's anonymous tip stopped what could have been far worse. More than six weeks later, Wake County Public Schools briefed the school board's student safety and security committee Monday on what worked, what is changing, and how much more the district plans to spend.

The Say Something Anonymous Reporting System, which the district launched in fall 2024, generated the tip that triggered the Code Red lockdown that morning. Raleigh police were notified around 11:15 a.m. that a student had a firearm on campus; school resource officers found McIntyre, a Millbrook football player and senior, took him into custody in the parking lot and recovered a loaded gun. McIntyre, 18, was charged with carrying a weapon on educational property, a felony, along with misdemeanor counts of carrying a concealed gun, resisting a public officer, and disorderly conduct at school. He was released on a $100,000 bond.

The day after his arrest, a new threat circulating through social media and text messages prompted heightened security at Millbrook, compounding pressure on district officials to show their detection systems were functioning.

The Say Something app has logged roughly 250 tips since its fall 2024 launch. About two-thirds of those tips involve student behavior; the remaining third relate to security concerns. The district also operates a 24/7 phone tip line, though officials said it consistently produces fewer actionable leads than the app. The Say Something system, provided by Sandy Hook Promise, is used by more than 5,000 schools nationally and is available to students in grades 6 through 12.

Monday's briefing extended beyond the Millbrook case. District officials told committee members the district is replacing its existing emergency response framework, including the familiar "code red" alert system, with a new protocol. They also outlined tentative plans for more than $30 million in physical security infrastructure upgrades across Wake County schools.

Officials declined to share specifics about the infrastructure work, citing the risk of exposing vulnerabilities while planning is ongoing. That confidentiality means board members will be asked to approve a significant funding commitment against plans that cannot be fully aired in public, a tension the district framed as unavoidable while security upgrades remain in the planning stage.