Cox Mill High in Cabarrus County evacuated again due to threat

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) – A high school in Cabarrus County has been evacuated for the second day in a row due to a threat, district officials said.

According to information from Cabarrus County Schools, Cox Mill High School is under evacuation as of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. A robocall threat similar to calls from Tuesday was received, officials said.

Phillip Furr, a spokesperson with Cabarrus County Schools, said there was an increased police presence on campus Wednesday morning and measures were taken prior to students’ arrival to secure the facilities.

Parents are worried about sending their children back to school after a second day of threats.

“Well, it’s very scary,” said Shantel Walker, a parent of Cox Mill Elementary School.

Kristi Cartee, a parent of Cox Mill High School said, “you know our world is a little bit crazy right now.”

Parents of both schools are concerned about the safety of their kids.

“It’s discouraging that we live in in this time we can’t be safe in your own neighborhood school,” said Andy Calloway, a Cox Mill High School parent.

Cabarrus County Schools tell WBTV Cox Mill High School received a robocall threat Wednesday morning, triggering an evacuation at the high school and a lockdown at Cox Mill Elementary School.

“We took the opportunity to send our child to school today, we thought everything would be died down a little and then to get another message that we were in lockdown was actually pretty terrifying,” said Walker.

Tyler Cartee, a student at Cox Mill High said the evacuation happened around 10 o’clock Wednesday morning and everyone had to wait an hour and a half outside in the stadium as police did a sweep of the building. Cartee added, “It actually happened the same time that it did yesterday, but we worked the same way, we actually got out faster and orderly faster so that was nice, but it was still really hot outside.”

Cartee did not appear too concerned about the threats, given it was the second day.

“It is what it is, like yesterday, nothing really happened, so I kind of assumed that what happened today was going to be the same exact thing,” said Cartee.

In a press conference on Tuesday after the first threat, school leaders said threats of any sort take a toll on everyone involved.

“It’s very unfortunate that you deal with situations like this, anytime you have a disruption to the school day, it’s a very difficult thing, it’s very stressful for our students, for our community, for our parents,” said Dr. John Kopicki, Cabarrus County Schools Superintendent.

Parents tell WBTV they are reconsidering whether their kids will return to class this week.

Cartee said, “we’ll have a conversation, and we’ll decide that later as a family.”

Calloway added, “we don’t know yet, we’ll have to talk about that,” and Walker said, “there’s a potential we’ll keep her out the rest of the week, it’s just too much and we’re worried about her just being scared.”

Cox Mill High was one of four Cabarrus County schools that were threatened on Tuesday. The others were Cox Mill Elementary, and Jay M. Robinson and Northwest Cabarrus high schools.

Mooresville High School in Iredell County was also evacuated after receiving a threat on Tuesday. Students and teachers were learning remotely on Wednesday.

Check back with WBTV for more updates as they come in.

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