Staff Writer
Wayne
County Community College was locked down on April 13 as law enforcement
responded to a reported shooting. Ron Lane, a print shop employee for 18 years,
was fatally shot on the third floor of the Wayne Learning Center. Wayne County
Sheriff Larry Pierce has said the shooting was not random, but an official motive
has not been released. The shooter, identified as Kenneth Morgan Stancil III, a
former student at the school had been fired by Lane because of his poor
attendance. “Our hearts are heavy for the loss of a valued employee,” Wayne
Community College President Kay Albertson lamented.
Students
in the library say they heard a single shot and hid until police told them it
was clear. Police say several people were attended to by emergency personnel
but no one else was injured. Officers had believed Stancil was hiding in the
bathroom, however when they cleared the space with tear gas they found they
were mistaken. Students were locked in for three hours, while parents waited anxiously
outside, one parent commented, “It's surreal. It really is.”
Students
also remember feeling fearful as they hid throughout the Wayne Learning Center.
“I was like, 'What's going on?’ The lady inside the library took everybody and
hid us in the office,” freshman Tichini Lewis recalls. This building holds the
library, admissions and financial aid departments, the student lounge and
cafeteria. Albertson admired the way students followed emergency procedure,
“I'm very proud to say that as soon as the lockdown was announced, everyone
went into full operation. It was very efficient, very effective.”
Stancil
was found sleeping on a Florida beach, he confessed to the crime and was
charged with first-degree murder. Police are still investigating the shooting
as a possible hate crime. He was arrested without incident and Sergeant Jeremy
Sutton of the Goldsboro police says Stancil had a “calculated plan” to kill
Lane. The police force is still investigating Lane’s alleged romantic advances
on Stancil. Investigators are also working to unearth evidence that proves Stancil’s
role in a white supremacist gang.
Stancil
has said he feels no remorse for murdering Lane because Lane had made sexual
advances towards his 16 year old brother through Facebook. Lane never had any
complaints filed against him, and neither Lane nor Stancil had a criminal
record. Although, Stancil told reporters he’s killed three other people in the
past four years, two black men and a Hispanic man. He says he encountered them
on the streets of Wayne County and proceeded to stab them to death. “I
butchered them,” he said. “I left them like they were Swiss cheese.”
Debbie
Stancil, Stancil’s mother, believes he hasn’t been the same since his father
committed suicide in 2009. She claims that her son is just confused, “He just
snapped. That is not my son. He's probably out of his mind. I think he needs
mental help.”
Stancil
said before shooting Lane, he left a note and a video for his family members,
explaining his decision and telling them he loved them. “I never wanted to live
like everybody else,” he said. “I've always had a criminal mind with a criminal
background, so I did what I did.”
On
April 17, a telephone threat was made to the college by a 31 year-old Goldsboro
resident. But the threat was found to not have been connected to the previous
shooting. Still, classes were canceled and the school was closed as a
precautionary measure. Albertson explains, “The college was never in any danger
today. We acted purely from a precautionary perspective.”
