Parents of a teenager shot and killed at a bus stop in 2022 are filing a lawsuit against the Charlotte-Meck Board of Education, the former school principal

CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Two years after 17-year-old Nahzir Taylor was shot and killed in East Charlotte, his parents have filed a lawsuit against the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (CMBE) and the former principal of Rocky River High School, Kwame Stith.

On November 30, 2022, Taylor, a Rocky River High School student, was shot by another student while getting off a bus. He died on December 2, 2022. Following his death, two juveniles were arrested and charged for their involvement in the teen’s death.

According to the wrongful death lawsuit filed Nov. 27 by Taylor’s father, Keon Marcel Taylor, it is alleged that a fight occurred in the school cafeteria on Nov. 30, which was witnessed by staff and other students. The lawsuit alleges Nahzir was not involved in the fight but was falsely accused by a Rocky River employee. A student, identified in the lawsuit as RS, allegedly threatened to shoot and kill Nahzir in the presence of Rocky River staff and students.

The Taylor family maintains that neither Stith nor any staff member at the high school or CMBE reported the fight or threat to law enforcement, Nahzir’s parents or other family members. The lawsuit alleges that staff and CMBE acted negligently leading up to the fatal shooting by failing to report the threats, failing to arrest RS, preventing him from leaving school grounds, and failing to stop RS’s alleged harassment and threats to stop.

The lawsuit alleges that if parents had been informed about the threats or the cafeteria incident, they would have picked Nahzir up from school instead of taking the bus home.

In addition, the family is suing for damages, including medical costs during Nahzir’s hospitalization, funeral expenses and $25,000 in compensatory damages.

The NAACP released the following statement in 2022:

The Education Committee of the Charlotte Chapter of the NAACP would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends, the staff of Rocky River High School, the student body and all those affected by the senseless death of Nahzir Taylor.

As a community, we must work diligently to combat the gun violence that is destroying lives, destroying our Charlotte communities and wreaking havoc in our school district. Schools must be safe places for learning.

We need all hands on deck to improve safety in our communities. Gun violence is not just a CMS problem, but also a city of Charlotte problem as we lose countless young lives to this unspoken, citywide pandemic.

Queen City News reached out to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for comment, to which they responded by saying they could not comment on pending litigation.

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