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ALBEMARLE, NC — A school shooting has left one teen in the hospital and another in jail.
The mother of that suspect spoke only to WCCB to explain to people why she believes this happened.
“I just wish he would have told me he had a gun,” said the mother.
She asked WCCB to conceal her identity in an effort to protect her other children.
She says her son, 15-year-old Jalen Russell, admitted to her that he took a gun from his grandmother’s house and shot 16-year-old Bernard Miller outside Albemarle High School before class Tuesday.
“He said, ‘Mama, I am sorry for what happened,’ he said, ‘but I didn’t want them boys jumping on me.”
Russell told his mom that some boys at school, including Miller, sent him a text message Monday night.
“The text message he received was that they was going to kill him,” said the mother. “And, he told me this morning, ‘Mom, I don’t want to go to school.’ I said, ‘You can’t stay out of school because someone threatened you. You tell the assistant principal when you get there.’ He didn’t want to go to school today, and I wouldn’t let him stay home.”
After shooting Miller twice, once in the hip and once in the stomach, Russell walked into the principal’s office.
“I don’t know if he was protecting himself in case he couldn’t get to the principal. I don’t know.” She saw her son before Albemarle Police booked him for assault with a deadly weapon. “He said, ‘Mama, I prayed before it happened.’ He said, ‘Mama, I prayed.”
She says her son has been in this position before when he stabbed a football player with scissors last year at Montgomery High School. His mother says that violence was also provoked by bullying.
“This is a child,” said family friend, Khadijah McAuley. “I’m not condoning the fact that he took a gun to the school. I’m not saying that what he did was right, but when you feel like you have to protect yourself, you go above and beyond.”
“We as parents need to teach our children to look out for one another,” said the suspect’s mother. “Don’t go to school bullying. Protect one another, love one another.”
The victim is in the hospital recovering. WCCB reached out the his family. No one has responded at this time. We will keep you updated.
