CONCORD — A student is dead following a shooting at a school in Concord Tuesday afternoon, according to Concord Police Department.
CPD issued this press release:
"On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, the Concord Police Department was called to the Valor Preparatory Academy located at 7550 Ruben Linker Rd NW in Concord to assist the school’s private security officer with a meeting between a student, parent, and school administrators. The responding Concord police officer arrived at the school at 12:19 p.m.
"The meeting ended around 12:45 p.m. The parent and student left the school and walked to their vehicle together. The parent then went back into the school to retrieve an item. During this time the student accessed a handgun inside the vehicle. When the parent returned, the student was suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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"Additional emergency responders were dispatched at 12:47 p.m. to the school in response to the gunshot wound victim. Concord Fire Department personnel immediately began rendering lifesaving aid until Cabarrus County EMS arrived. The student was transferred to Atrium Health Cabarrus and later pronounced deceased."
Police said out of respect for the family no other information will be released.
Valor Prep released the following statement:
“We are thankful to law enforcement and medical personnel who responded to a tragic incident that occurred in our parking lot this afternoon. All students within our building were safe and were dismissed as normal after the lockdown was lifted. We are not at liberty to discuss the incident or any of our students and must refer all additional questions to law enforcement.”
Valor Prep is a charter school with grades kindergarten through 12th grade. The school is a low-performing school according to its website. It received a D grade on its state Performance Grade for 2023, 2022 and 2019. No grade was issued for 2020 and 2021 because of the impact of COVID-19. The school formerly operated as Cabarrus Charter Academy.