News

Local officer honored as state’s SRO of the Year

Henderson County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer Shawn Metcalf this summer was named the N.C. Association of School Resource Officers Officer of the Year.

By Amy McCraw, Published: September 9, 2024

Something clicked in School Resource Officer Shawn Metcalf’s mind while on the job at Edneyville Elementary School about a year ago.

He heard some radio chatter that day in October about a shooting not too far away at the McDonald’s restaurant on Four Season’s Boulevard. A superior at Henderson County Sheriff’s Office also sent a text telling deputies to be aware of the incident and on the lookout for a suspect.
“By that time, they gave a description,” Metcalf said Monday while sitting in his new office at North Henderson High School. “I realized I knew that suspect and that car.”
Metcalf’s instincts told him the suspect was likely the parent of one of the children at the elementary school and that he was probably 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 he walked out the door, Metcalf passed the mother of a student as she walked into the school on Pace Road.
“I looked up and saw that car turn in,” he said.
Teachers and school staff rushed children on 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.
Backup had not yet arrived and he did not know what might happen, but 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.”
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, jail records show.
Ivey was an employee at the restaurant on Oct. 9, 2023 when two women involved in an argument led to him pulling a concealed weapon and shooting one of the women, police said.
For his 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 awarded Metcalf with a Meritorious Conduct certificate for his actions.
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 during a meeting in July. His family and colleagues at the sheriff’s department snuck in for the event and were there when a presenter announced he was officer of the year.
“I don’t do well with recognition,” he said. “I turned blood red. It was pretty emotional.”
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 moved on to work as an SRO at North Henderson this year. But he said his 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 said he considers all the students his while he is on duty.
“All 460 are mine,” he said.
Metcalf, who has15 years experience in law enforcement, began work as a Henderson County SRO a little over two years ago. He previously worked as an officer in 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 come to pick their children up.
And that knowledge seems to have made a difference last year at Edneyville Elementary.