Teacher had pistol and ‘dagger-like knife’ on high school campus, NC sheriff says

A Union County teacher is facing weapons charges after deputies reported finding a gun and “dagger-like knife” while searching his classroom and car, North Carolina investigators say.

The arrest happened Monday at Parkwood High in Monroe, after deputies received “a tip about a strong odor of marijuana inside the school building,” the Union County Sheriff’s Office said in an April 27 news release.

“The smell was detected in the hallway before students had arrived,” the sheriff’s office said. “Deputies traced the odor to a chemistry classroom assigned to Gerald Wade Morton Jr.”

A search of the classroom’s storage closet revealed a book bag holding an “amount of hemp within the legal limit,” drug paraphernalia, a police badge from another jurisdiction and “a small dagger-style knife with a clip (belonging to his son),” the sheriff’s office said.

“Deputies also located Mr. Morton’s vehicle on school grounds with a window partially open. ... A search of the vehicle was conducted and a loaded 9mm handgun was located in an unlocked center console,” the sheriff’s office said.

Morton was charged with possession of a firearm on educational property, possession of a weapon (non-firearm) on educational property, and possession of drug paraphernalia, the sheriff’s office said. He was released on a secured $10,000 bond, officials said.

Parkwood High is about a 30-mile drive southeast from uptown Charlotte.