News

SRO of the Year acted quickly to nab murder suspect

Shawn Metcalf was named Officer of the Year by the N.C. Association of School Resource Officers in July and also received a Meritorious Conduct award from the sheriff’s office for his quick-thinking arrest of a murder suspect who came to Edneyville Elementary School last year.

By Amy B. McCraw, Associate Editor, Published: September 12, 2024

Something clicked in School Resource Officer Shawn Metcalf’s mind while on the job at Edneyville Elementary School last October.

He picked up the police radio traffic about a shooting at the McDonald’s restaurant on Four Seasons Boulevard and then got a text from a supervisor telling deputies to be aware of the incident and on the lookout for a suspect.

“By that time, they gave a description,” Metcalf said in an interview Monday at his current post at North Henderson High School. “I realized I knew that suspect and that car.”

Metcalf’s instincts told him the suspect was likely the father of a child at the elementary school and that he could be headed that way.

“I spoke to the principal. I said, ‘We could have a problem.’ I said, ‘He doesn’t need to be let in and I’m going to be outside,” Metcalf said. As soon as he exited, “I looked up and saw that car turn in.”

Teachers and school staff, meanwhile, had rushed children from the playground inside and secured the school. Metcalf’s own 8-year-old son was one of the students who went into “secure holding” that day at Edneyville Elementary.

Although backup had not yet arrived, Metcalf knew he had to stop the suspect in the parking lot.

 “Training takes over. We do so much training,” he said. “It was autopilot.”

 Metcalf took the suspect, a convicted felon named Sam Antwan Ivey, into custody without incident as he got out of his car.

 “God was looking out,” he said. “It could not have gone better.”

School Board thanks SROs

 Hendersonville police charged Ivey, 35, with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting at the McDonald’s restaurant. He also faces a charge of possession of firearm by a felon.

 Ivey was a working at the restaurant the morning of Oct. 9 when two women involved in an argument caused to him to pull a concealed weapon and shoot one of them, police said. When he fled, he encountered Metcalf in the school parking lot.

 For the officer’s heroic actions that day, the N.C. Association of School Resource Officers in July awarded 42-year-old Metcalf the C.C. McGee Officer of the Year Award. The sheriff’s office also honored Metcalf with a Meritorious Conduct certificate.

 The School Board on Monday recognized Metcalf for his work and for receiving the state Officer of the Year Award.

 Schools Superintendent Mark Garrett thanked Metcalf for his “quick proactive thinking that kept something that could have been really, really bad from happening on one of our campuses.”

 Garrett gave Metcalf a certificate and a challenge coin from the school system.

 He said he was grateful for Metcalf’s knowledge of the community, the school’s parents and its students. School Board members thanked all the county’s SROs for their work.

Metcalf said it was a surprise when he received the SRO of the Year award in Concord. His family and colleagues at the sheriff’s department snuck in for the event and were there when a presenter announced the honor.

 “I don’t do well with recognition,” he said. “I turned blood red. It was pretty emotional.”

‘I just did my job’

Metcalf on Monday said all the attention has been a little overwhelming.

“It’s been a lot,” he said. “I just did my job doing what the sheriff and the citizens of Henderson County entrusted me to do.”

Metcalf, who has 15 years’ experience in law enforcement, began work as a Henderson County SRO a little over two years ago. He previously worked as a law officer for Transylvania County, Brevard and Blue Ridge Community College.

 He said he took the opportunity to work as an SRO after another officer encouraged him to apply for the job.

 “I’ve really enjoyed it,” he said. “I feel like you can make a difference in this role. It’s community policing.”

 Metcalf’s commitment to community policing means he gets to know the children at school, what their parents look like and even what cars they drive when they pick up their children. That knowledge and a cop’s gut made a difference at Edneyville Elementary on that Monday morning last October.

While he’s moved on to work as an SRO at North Henderson this year, the officer’s commitment to keeping students safe has remained the same. Whether his son is one of the students in the school he protects or not, Metcalf regards all the students under his watch as family.

 “All 460 are mine,” he said.