NC teacher, coach shot to death trying to steal drugs from Mexican cartel members

GRAHAM, Alamance County — A North Carolina teacher who died earlier this month was shot to death while trying to steal drugs and investigators said he shot a reported member of a Mexican drug cartel before he was killed.

Barney Harris, a Union Academy teacher, died in Alamance County on April 8th during what Sheriff Terry Johnson told NewsChannel 12 affiliate ABC 45 in Winston-Salem was a burglary that left two people dead.

Harris was the basketball coach at the school, where he was well-loved and respected, but Sheriff Johnson told ABC affiliate WSOC that there was another side to Harris that most people didn’t see -- one that was involved in the dangerous and deadly drug world.

Harris and a second man, Steven Stewart, went to a mobile home park in Alamance County last Thursday to steal money and drugs from cartel members when they were involved in a shootout and Harris was killed.

Stewart, who is from Wadesboro, survived the shooting and was arrested; the sheriff said he has been charged with armed robbery and murder.

Harris was hired by Union Academy Charter School in July 2017 as a high school Spanish teacher and served as the head coach for the varsity men’s basketball team and varsity men’s track team.