A North Carolina teacher was gunned down last week in a shootout with members of a Mexican drug cartel, a report said.
Barney Harris, who taught and coached basketball at Union Academy in Monroe, and his brother-in-law Steven Stewart, reportedly attempted to steal drugs and money from a trailer used by the cartel last Thursday when all hell broke loose, WTVD reported. citing authorities.
Harris and Stewart entered the trailer at a park in Alamance County, but were confronted by alleged 18-year-old cartel member Alonso Lara shortly after, Sheriff Terry Johnson told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.
The in-laws are said to have executed Lara when he refused to tell them where their stock was hidden, Johnson said.
Other cartel members then arrived, leading to a shootout that killed Harris.
“Mr. Harris, he was wearing a bulletproof vest, but it didn’t work with the type of ammunition that was being used,” Johnson told reporters, the report said.
“They went there to do what was done, except they didn’t think it would backfire on them.”
Stewart was arrested after the shooting and charged with murder and armed robbery, the report said.
Johnson said one of the trailer’s other residents, Daniel Lara, is being wanted on suspicion of cocaine trafficking. There is a warrant for his arrest.
The sheriff said he believes Daniel Lara fled to Mexico.
Authorities found about two pounds of cocaine and $ 7,000 with the trailer.
Johnson said he is concerned the cartel might retaliate.
“I’m still concerned about some kind of retaliation for not forgetting the Mexican cartels,” Johnson said.
“They’re going to pay someone back, and that worries me a lot as sheriff of this county.”