A man is behind bars after police say he showed up at Charlotte Lab School in west Charlotte with a gun on Friday. Deon Leach now faces multiple charges connected to the incident, which arrest records tie to an alleged pattern of stalking an ex-girlfriend all the way to her child’s school.
According to WSOC-TV, police say Leach had a gun at the campus that day, leading to his arrest. The station reports that arrest records allege Leach assaulted his ex-girlfriend, followed her to her child’s school, and placed a tracker on her car.
The arrest records, as described in the station’s report, paint a picture of an escalating situation that culminated at the school. Beyond the allegations of assault, following, and tracking laid out in those records, the exact sequence of events that Friday has not been detailed publicly.
What Remains Unclear About the Case
The full list of charges Leach faces has not been specified, and it is not known whether the firearm was fired, displayed, or simply found in his possession. There has been no public statement from Charlotte Lab School, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, the alleged victim, or Leach himself.
It is also unknown whether students or staff were present at the time of the arrest or whether the school went into any kind of lockdown. Details such as Leach’s age, bond, attorney, and upcoming court dates have not been reported.
A Second West Charlotte School Gun Case This Year
This is not the only time a weapon has turned up at a west Charlotte school recently. Last month, Hoodline reported that CMPD charged 19-year-old Jeshua Medina after a minor brought a rifle to Berryhill Elementary, with the suspect reportedly fleeing into a wooded area.
How Gun Reports at CMS Have Shifted
Guns showing up on Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools campuses had actually been trending in the opposite direction before this year. During the 2022-23 school year, CMS reported just six guns on campuses, a sharp drop from 29 the year before, according to WFAE. That decline came after the district installed walk-through weapon scanners in middle and high schools and launched an anonymous threat-reporting system, the station notes.
Statewide, the trend moved the other way that same year. North Carolina schools saw a 24% jump in reported guns, rising from 161 to 199, and the total number of violent and criminal incidents at public schools statewide topped 13,000 — about 2,000 more than the year before, per the same report.
More recent state figures suggest some improvement. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction reported 11,470 acts involving 16 reportable offenses by student and nonstudent offenders in the 2024-25 school year, marking the third straight year of decline.
What North Carolina Law Says About Guns on Campus
North Carolina law treats firearms on school grounds with particular severity. Under state statute, a person who willfully discharges a firearm of any kind on educational property is guilty of a Class F felony, unless another law calls for a greater punishment.
Leach’s case remains in its early stages, and key questions about the charges and what happens next in court have not yet been answered publicly.
