CHHS student held on bond after gun shot on school bus

On Wednesday night, Aaron Small was boasting of his upcoming graduation and showing off a newly acquired cap and gown at a friend’s house.

Thursday, Small was in jail, charged with firing a gun on a bus at Chapel Hill High School.

Chapel Hill police say Small, 18, fired a .22 caliber revolver on a bus around 10:45 a.m. No one was injured in the shooting.

After the gun went off, Small, of 215 Homestead Road, took off running, police said.

Police said they found him about an hour later at the friend’s house on Jubilee Drive, which is about a mile from the school.

“He told me he was scared,” said Wanda Williamson, who owns the house and whose son goes to school with Small.

“That’s why he came over here. He said, ‘Ms. Williamson, I’m sorry. I apologize,’” she said.

Police arrested Small on felony charges of discharging a weapon on school property and possession of a weapon on school property.

He also faces misdemeanor charges of resisting a public officer and injury to real property.

He was being held at Orange County Jail as of 9 p.m. Thursday in lieu of $15,100 bail.

The bus was arriving later than usual because the school was operating on a delayed schedule to give teachers planning time.

The high school was placed on total lockdown following the shooting while police searched for Small, school district spokeswoman Stephanie Knott said.

Smith Middle School and Seawell and Morris Grove elementary schools, which are all nearby, were placed on “soft” lockdowns, meaning students could move within the building but no one could enter or leave.

Chapel Hill High freshman Megan Blunden said that she was running late to school Thursday morning and that her mom dropped her off during the lockdown.

“The police said we were in lockdown and told me to get into a classroom,” Blunden said.

Knott said this is the first time a weapon has been discharged on school property in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district since 2006, when William Barrett Foster held a student and teacher hostage at East Chapel Hill High School.

Parents at all the schools placed on lockdown were notified with a phone call Thursday morning, Knott said.

Williamson said she was surprised when police showed up at her house looking for Small. Her son and Small weren’t close, she said, but she said the two would hang out at her house after school sometimes.

She said she was relieved Wednesday night to see Small so excited about graduation.

“He was grinning and so happy because he was graduating,” Williamson said, adding that he was taking photos on his phone to send to his mother.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m proud of you.’”



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