A Charlotte man has been taken into custody and charged with sending threatening emails and letters to five Charlotte-area schools over the past week, including a message claiming that someone was planning to "kill all the blacks" at West Charlotte High School.
Police have charged Drew Owens, 31, with sending the threatening messages. The threatened schools include:
- Garinger High School
- Ardrey Kell High School
- West Charlotte High School
- Community House Middle School
- Hawk Ridge Elementary School
According to a search warrant, the threats began on Saturday, Feb. 15, when threatening emails were sent by an anonymous email address to Ardrey Kell High School, West Charlotte High School, Community House Middle School and Hawk Ridge Elementary School.
The messages were addressed to school principals and administrators, as well as Darryl and Deidra Owens, who police determined were the parents of the man they later arrested.
Three days later, staff at Garinger High School received a letter in the mail stating that a student with a female name was struggling with mental health issues and planned to "shoot up" the school. The letter said the student was armed with two shotguns and an AR-15 from the "dark web," and that she would "put all the Black people in their place" and "wants to kill all the blacks."
School administrators searched and found there was no student by the name on the letter enrolled at the school. Investigators determined the letter was written in the same manner and with the same verbiage as the other threats made on Saturday, leading them to suspect Owens, who is Black.
Owens' father, Darryl Owens, is an ROTC instructor at West Charlotte High School. In an affidavit, he told police he believed his son had sent the threatening emails, and said he might still be upset over getting kicked out of his home in 2021 for "continued drug and alcohol use."
He told police his son had been harassing family members, neighbors, and family friends, even sending threatening emails and letters to various neighbors and sitting outside their homes. He said his son had also gone to West Charlotte High School, taken photos of his car, and sent them in a possible attempt to lure him outside.
According to the affidavit, he told police he had taken out a restraining order against his son, and though he had been arrested for violating the order, the order had since been dismissed.
Owens was booked at the Mecklenburg County Jail on Wednesday, Feb. 19. As of Friday, he was being held on a $10,000 secured bond.
