Popular Union County, North Carolina teacher and coach, Barney Harris, was killed in a shootout with a Mexican drug cartel after he was caught trying to steal their stash, reported WSOC-TV.
Barney Harris was a well-respected teacher and basketball coach at Union Academy Charter School in Monroe, according to Sheriff Terry Johnson, but he had apparently lived a double life.
Police said Harris and his brother-in-law Steven Alexander Stewart went to a mobile home on April 8 with the intent to steal money and drugs from the Mexican drug cartel. As they were breaking in, a member of the cartel, Alonso Beltran Lara, 18, walked in. Harris and Stewart questioned Lara about the location of the stash and when he didn’t give up they information, they shot him in the head.
“They were trying to find the money and drugs and apparently he didn’t give them the information to do that and he was technically close range, two bullets to the back of the head, he was executed,” Johnson said.
After Lara was shot, other members of the cartel showed up and a shootout erupted. Harris was found dead in a bedroom. No one other than Lara was found shot, but police did find bullets in neighboring trailers.
“Mr. Harris, he had a bulletproof vest on, but it did not work with the kind of ammunition that was used,” Johnson told reporters. “He had gloves on, and he, they went there to do what was done except they did not think it was going to backfire on them.”
Authorities said there is evidence to suggest that Harris and Stewart traced the whereabouts of the cartel’s members using an electronic tracking device. They also found additional information on Harris’ cellphone that placed him in the area at another time.
Stewart was arrested and charged with armed robbery and first-degree murder.
Harris was hired by Union Academy in 2017 as a Spanish teacher and served as the head varsity basketball coach and varsity track coach.
Johnson expressed the disbelief that someone who had such a good reputation in the community like Barney Harris could go in the wrong direction.
It’s just hard to understand, the fact that someone like Mr. Harris, who apparently had a pretty good life as a teacher and a coach wound up in this type of crime,” Johnson lamented.
He also gave a word of caution when it comes to getting involved with drug cartels.
“I can tell you right now, when we are dealing with the Mexican drug cartel, someone is going to die as a result of this.”
