When tragedy struck at Butler High School on Monday, it hit close to home for North Carolina wide receiver Anthony Ratliff-Williams.
After an altercation in the hallway before school Monday morning, 16-year-old sophomore Bobby McKeithen was shot and killed while other students were in the vicinity, according to the Matthews Police Department.
Four years ago, as a star on the football team, Ratliff-Williams attended that same high school in Matthews, N.C. The violence was something he never thought would happen in his hometown.
"I used to be in that situation walking those halls," Ratliff-Williams said after practice to the media on Tuesday. "To have that happen I was a little traumatized. I was taken aback by it."
McKeithen died at a nearby hospital shortly after the shot was fired. A few hours later, once classes resumed, 16-year-old first-year Jatwan Craig Cuffie was charged with the first-degree murder of his classmate.
Ratliff-Williams said he first heard the news from his mom about an hour after it took place, just before a 90-minute lockdown at his alma mater ended. He said he was shocked and that he didn't believe what she was telling him.
"My mom told me that the tragedy happened at my school and I kind of didn’t believe her," Ratliff-Williams said. "I was like, ‘At my school? In my area?'"
His immediate reaction was to text his cousins, who he said still attend the school and were close friends with the victim, to check on them. He still knows plenty of people who are connected to the school and expressed regret that anyone would have to live through that experience, let alone his hometown.
