Bobby McKeithen was a 16-year-old sophomore at Butler High School in Matthews, North Carolina when he was shot and killed in a crowded school hallway at around 7 a.m. on October 29, 2018. The shooting followed an earlier altercation between Bobby and another student, 16-year-old Jatwan Cuffie. Bobby was taken to the hospital in critical condition and later died.

A school resource officer reached Bobby within 15 to 20 seconds after the shooting. Cuffie was apprehended at the school shortly afterward, admitted to the crime, surrendered to authorities, and was charged with first-degree murder. Family members described Bobby as friendly, loving, a caretaker of his siblings and someone who enjoyed dancing; they disputed characterizations of him as a bully and questioned the school’s handling of events surrounding the attack. What did readers in the area remember about Butler High that day or in the days before the shooting?