CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ Bobby McKeithen, 16, loved sports and dancing, his mother Ashley Mewborn said during a news conference.
And on Monday morning, he went to school like he was supposed to, she said _ but around the time classes started, he was shot in a hallway of Butler High School in Matthews. Another 16-year-old Butler student, Jatwan Craig Cuffie, has been charged with murder.
"I don't feel safe about the school system," Mewborn said. "I'm worried about my other kids now."
Mewborn told reporters McKeithen was a devoted brother with "the biggest heart." In a statement, his family firmly disputed the idea that he was a bully.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Clayton Wilcox said Monday that the shooting may have been related to bullying. Matthews Police Capt. Stason Tyrrell refused to say who was bullying whom in a news conference Monday.
If the school did know there was a conflict between two students, school officials should have intervened, said McKeithen's father, who is also named Bobby McKeithen.
Mewborn said she wants CMS officials to do "whatever (they) have to do" to keep students safe.
"A child shouldn't have been able to walk in with a gun and be able to shoot my baby in his _ just shoot him in his side and kill him," she said. "That should never happen."
