Man charged in CMS bus shooting enters plea in Charlotte federal court
A man has pleaded guilty in a federal case related to the December 2024 shootout that sent bullets into a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bus carrying 30 students.
Paris Lewis-Bynum and three other men were arrested in the shooting, which broke out during a drug deal, police previously said. Some bullets hit a passing school bus and a nearby church, according to court documents. Some students were injured by broken glass, but none were hit by a bullet.
Lewis-Bynum, 21, faces several pending state charges, including possession of firearm by felon and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. Federal prosecutors also charged him with possessing a firearm as a felon on the day of the shootout: Dec. 16, 2024. He pleaded guilty to that charge in a plea deal in Charlotte’s federal court Thursday.
According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, he had stolen the gun from a North Carolina state trooper’s patrol car the same day.
His sentencing date in the federal gun conviction has not yet been set.
An administrative hearing in the Mecklenburg County Courthouse on the other charges has been rescheduled five times since April. It is now set for July.
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 12:37 PM.
