Faith, family and football will come together Friday night as Wake Forest High School plays at Wakefield High, the first game since the death of Ericka Lucas.
The former Wake County high school principal died from her injuries earlier this week, almost two weeks after she was shot on Aug. 29 at a Wake Forest home on East Nelson Avenue. Wake Forest police said Lucas was not the person targeted in the shooting.
Lucas was the principal at Rolesville High School for three school years before leaving in 2015. The tragic nature of her death—having been caught up in gunfire not meant for her—has friends and family members reeling.
Lucas was often seen at Wake Forest football games, where her husband, Reggie Lucas, has been the head coach since 2009.
For the first game since her death, Wake Forest High School families and community members are encouraging each other to wear blue in support of Reggie. Hundreds of people liked the Instagram post to show support for Coach Lucas during this unimaginable time.
Ericka Lucas was a career educator and passionate about lifting up her community, qualities that her former colleagues say will be sorely missed.
Millbrook High School assistant principal Sebastin Shipp said Lucas was one of the few African-American women to be a high school principal in Wake County at the time of her service. She was also the assistant principal at Millbrook from 2018 to 2020.
“She really strived to pass that energy and effort on to every single student that she met,” Shipp remarked. “She never let a student leave her presence without understanding that they have the capability of doing anything that they wanted or dreamed to do.”
The Wake Forest High School team will be at Wakefield High School starting at 7 p.m. Friday night.
Dexter Lamont Mills, 18, and his 16-year-old cousin were arrested in connection with the crime on Tuesday. Mills appeared in court on Wednesday where he was held without bond on charges of first-degree murder and possession of a stolen firearm.