School board member’s son ignites an uproar after urging people to shoot Black people ‘for fun’ in viral video
An investigation is underway after a video went viral showing a Maryland high school student — who is the son of a local school board member — holding a pellet gun and saying, “Shoot n*****s for fun, you hear me?” 47ABC reports.
The student is the 15-year son of Wicomico County Board of Education member Tonya Laird Lewis.
After the video went viral, Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis sent deputies to the student’s house Tuesday night and conducted a threat assessment.
“This was done in person, we wanted to yank this kid’s chain, we wanted to see what he thought he was up to,” Sheriff Lewis said. “Did he think it was appropriate? Did he have any remorse for what he did? He was very remorseful.”
The student told investigators that the video was created about 5 months ago and recently was air dropped inside of his school.
“I know very well how airdrop works and you can walk through any public school here in Wicomico County, and if your airdrop is set to everyone as opposed to your contacts, I can tell you, you can pick up dozens of images walking through any school in this county; that is a fact,” Sheriff Lewis said, adding that he’s working with the local state’s attorneys office to see if any charges will be filed.
“This information has been widely disseminated,” Sheriff Lewis said. “Not just necessarily throughout our office, but throughout the community, but especially our school resource deputies who are charged with protecting our county schools; and I can assure you that everybody is on high alert today, and there is no reason for anybody to be concerned over at Parkside or any other school in this county based on this particular incident.