Gun shots rang out during a middle school football game this week, leaving one woman suffering “life-threatening” injuries. But the actions of one 13-year-old boy at the event are being celebrated as courageous, after he was caught on camera helping one of his teachers to safety.
On Wednesday night in Lumberton, North Carolina, police responded to reports of gunfire at Lumberton Senior High School football stadium during a game between Lumberton Junior High School and St. Pauls Middle School.
Footage filmed by St. Pauls teacher Don Weller on his cell phone shows the team taking a knee during a trophy presentation after winning the game. Then, a gunshot, as everyone on the field starts running for cover.
As Weller ran for it, he dropped his phone, but it kept recording. Bobby Holloman, a 13-year-old 7th grader on the St. Pauls football team, can then be heard yelling, “Mr. Weller, I got your phone. Run, Mr. Weller! Mr. Weller, get down!”
Warning: Disturbing footage below.
“I think my fight or flight kicked in for me and you know how a lot of people have started to run and my brain told me to run too, then my feet didn’t cooperate and I ended up falling and that’s when Bobby came in and kind of guided me over the fence and made me stay down to the ground, which would’ve been the right think to do, you know, early on,” Weller told WBTW after the scary incident.
Calling Holloman a hero, he also told WRAL, “He helped me up and got me to the fence and reminded me to stay low to the ground. It kind of made me feel more assured and calmed me down a little bit.”
“I wanted to make sure everybody else was okay before I got down, because that’s right. In my book, that’s right,” Holloman told WRAL. “I just thought about getting to safety. Anything can happen in just a minute and you’re not promised tomorrow,” he also told WBTW.
The Lumberton Police Department said they found a 41-year-old woman in the parking lot suffering from a gunshot wound. She was transported to a hospital with “life-threatening injuries” and, as of Thursday morning, was in “critical but stable condition.”
Per police, “bystanders on the scene reported multiple gunshots and described a suspect dressed in black.”
“We’’e not going to tolerate that kind of behavior on our campuses whether it occurs during the school day or after,” PSRC Superintendent Dr. Freddie Williamson said in a statement Thursday. “Safety is our top priority as we will place additional measures necessary to ensure the safety of our students and the public on our campuses during games.”
The school district will be enacting additional safety measures going forward, including adding adding additional lighting in parking lots.
Williamson said they still plan to “properly recognize championship winners on the St. Pauls Middle School football team at a later date” — adding, “We want to be clear. We are not going to give in to evil and we are not going to give in to fear.”
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