A Burke County Elementary School was placed on lockdown Wednesday morning after three individuals were seen walking on campus with a firearm.

The three reportedly went into a wooded area near Icard Elementary while Burke Sheriff’s narcotic’s officers utilized a 4-wheel drive to locate the suspects.

Officers reported hearing a gunshot fired within yards of their location; however, within seconds, officers located the three suspects in the edge of a field near the utility right-of-way.

One of the male suspects reportedly fled armed with a 410 gauge shotgun into the woods but was cut off buy uniformed officers; and complied with deputies’ commands to drop the gun.

The other two were captured by narcotics officers.

18-year-old Douglas Allen Shuford of Icard School Road Connelly Springs, 18-year-old Justin Wayne Hatley of Simpson Avenue Connelly Springs, and 33-year-old Tabitha Evans of Icard School Road Connelly Springs were arrested and taken into custody.

Shuford has been charged with possessing a firearm on educational property, possession of drug paraphernalia, and violation of a domestic violence order that had been issued May 2^nd.

His total secured bond is 30-thousand-dollars.

Hatley and Evans were each charged with aiding and abetting possessing a firearm o educational property.

Hatley’s secured bond – 1-thousand dollars, Evans secured at 3-thousand-dollars.

A news release states approximately 15 deputies responded to the incident and were assisted by the NCHP.

Mortimer Campground in the Wilson Creek area of Caldwell County is temporarily closed due to flood damage.

The US Forest Service is working to assess and repair damage.

Officials anticipate the campground will remain closed over Memorial Day weekend.

The campground will reopen as soon as conditions are safe for visitors.

Significant rainfall last weekend caused flooding of Wilson Creek and its tributaries as well as landslides and washouts on area roads.

Forest Service officials remind motorists traveling in the Wilson Creek area to be cautious; as further rainfall is expected into the weekend causing additional impacts to roadways.

An area emergency services director is serving on an incident management team that departed for Hawaii last weekend in response to the erupting Kilauea volcano.

McDowell County Emergency Services Director William Kehler is on the NC team working from an emergency operations center on the big island of Hawaii supporting the Hawaii County Civil Defense agency.

The team consists of one state emergency manager and nine county and local emergency managers from throughout NC.

Team members arrived there last Saturday and will remain there for 14 days before returning home.

NC emergency officials have often assisted other states during disaster situations.