Superintendent: 5 students still hospitalized in awning collapse

IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — Five students remain hospitalized after portions of a concrete awning collapsed onto a group of people Saturday afternoon at North Iredell High School, according to Iredell-Statesville Schools Superintendent Brady Johnson.

Student band member Tyler Branham said he witnessed the awning collapse on Saturday and was roughly 3 feet away from where the structure fell.

Branham told Eyewitness News his stressful return to school got a little better when the students received positive updates on classmates' conditions.

"One with a spinal cord injury was up and walking today so it was amazing that something that tragic could rebound so quickly," he said.

Investigators are compiling a list of injuries-reviewing school surveillance video and planning a meeting with the district attorney to determine if any charges will be filed.

Investigators say the driver is a volunteer and the parent of a former student. Officials said he is aware that he could possibly be held liable in some way and that he is "torn up" over the incident.

Investigators expect to complete the report on the incident and discuss charges with the DA by the end of the week.

Nearly two dozen people were injured after the structure collapsed at the high school.

Officials said students had recently arrived to the school to compete in a regional band competition. They believe a box truck that was most likely hauling band equipment hit the concrete awning while teams were unloading their gear.

IMAGES: N. Iredell High School partial roof collapse

Portions of the concrete structure collapsed onto a group of people, mostly students from South Iredell High School, said officials.

“The scene was very scary,” said Cherly Styers who is a parent and also teaches at North Iredell High School. “There were emergency vehicles lined up and down the driveway. Kids were crying. Parents were coming in very upset.”

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On Saturday evening, officials said 21 students and one adult had been transported to area hospitals.

Officials did not discuss specific injuries at the scene but said at least three people were seriously hurt and of those one person was transported to a trauma center in Winston Salem.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with our students,” said Johnson, who told Channel 9 Sunday evening that the five remaining patients all had injuries that were orthopedic in nature.

Johnson said there would be extra counselors at both North Iredell and South Iredell Monday and that a community assembly would be held at South Iredell at 6 p.m. while North would hold an assembly at 4 p.m.

Students at South Iredell High School are wearing white and wrote “band strong” on their shirts to be in solidarity with the victims. Most of the people injured were from South Iredell High School, and friends of people in the band said it is important for the school to rally behind the victims.

“Our Viking Nation sticks together every time things happen like this,” Kacey Moore, a friend of band members said.

“We just like to stand together in times of need,” another student, Krista Georgia, told Channel 9. “We know we had a lot of instances these past few years and this just brought us all together even more.”

A gofundme page has been started to raise money to help injured members of the South Iredell H.S. band. Click here to help.

The district called in a structural engineer to secure the rest of the awning.

The band competition was canceled and there was no word on whether the driver would be cited.

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