Well, at least you can’t accuse politicians or law enforcement officials in Charlotte, North Carolina, of learning anything from past mistakes.
Almost one year to the day after the killing of Iryna Zarutska on board a Charlotte light rail train, allegedly by a serial offender who was repeatedly released on little or no bond despite a history of violent crime and mental illness, a man who was charged in a series of mass shooting threats against Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in February 2025 was released from jail on bond.
And just days before the start of school. Perfect timing!
According to WBTV-TV in Charlotte, 33-year-old Drew Owens posted a $75,000 bond on Friday. His bond was initially set at $10,000 after he was charged, then raised to $200,000 by a judge with some sense.
He was released on Saturday, according to Fox News. Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools opened on Tuesday.
It’s unclear how Owens managed to get the surety bond or who helped him do it.
It’s also unclear why Owens’ bond as lowered to $75,000, except for the fact that this is Charlotte and people like Decarlos Brown Jr., the alleged Zarutska killer who now faces the death penalty, was let out tons of times despite a rap sheet that should have kept him locked up for good.
Should judges be held accountable when people they release on bond commit crimes?
In this case, Owens — who is black — threatened to “shoot up” schools to “kill all the blacks,” according to court documents obtained by WBTV in February 2025, shortly after his arrest.
He was arrested after Owens’ father — identified by the New York Post as Darryl Owens — alerted police to the fact that his son might be planning some kind of violent act. The father had kicked the son out of the family home in 2021 due to his use of drugs and alcohol.
The father was an ROTC instructor at West Charlotte High School, the station reported. According to prosecutors, this was one of the schools that Owens planned to target. The plans were laid out in emails sent to the five schools by an anonymous individual, but Owens left behind a clue by mentioning his mother and father.
The first email was allegedly sent by Owens on Feb. 15, 2025, to four of the five schools. A second was sent on Feb. 18, 2025.
“I will put all the black people in their place,” that email read. “I want to kill all the Blacks.”
While the letter was signed with the name of a female student who wasn’t enrolled in any of the schools targeted, a physical letter to one of the schools gave Drew Owens’ mother’s name, along with the address of his mother and father.
“Officers said the letter stated Owens was armed with two shotguns and an AR-15 from the ‘dark web,’” WBTV reported, using a term for an encrypted, not publicly available portion of the internet where illegal transactions for drugs and weapons are often carried out.
He was charged with “five counts of communicating a threat of mass violence on an educational property,” the station reported.
And now, he’s released from custody, all thanks to a system that continually fails its own residents.
Parents were, understandably, not happy.
“Is he going to show up at one of the schools?” an unidentified parent told WSOC-TV in Charloette. “It’s not good.”
You don’t say. And, a statement by school district officialdom isn’t going to make anyone feel much safer.
“School and district leadership are aware and remain in close communication with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Police Department (CMSPD) and our law enforcement partners,” the statement read.
“The individual has been banned from all [Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools] property, and any violation of the ban will result in immediate law enforcement action. Additionally, the safety procedures and security measures in place at our schools will continue to be actively followed every day.”
You read that correctly — they banned a man charged with planning to shoot up multiple schools who illegally obtained firearms to do so, so clearly he doesn’t represent a threat.
You know those guys who buy guns off the dark web: Once you tell them that they’re banned from a property, they always follow the rules. You never have to ask them twice.
“In this situation it’s confusing because he had a $200,000 bond,” one parent told WSOC. “He’s clearly a public safety threat, so what took the threat level down?”
Good question. Another good question: Why was Decarlos Brown Jr. still on the streets? Both questions, I fear, have the same answer. One hopes both sorry situations don’t end the same way. Maybe it’s time that judges start being held responsible when the bad decisions they make end up costing lives.
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