Fifteen Upstate South Carolina students have been charged with making threats of violence toward their schools in the aftermath of the Sept. 4 shooting in Winder, Georgia.
Two students and two teachers were shot to death there with an AR-type weapon and nine were injured. The student, Colt Gray, was 14. He has been charged with four counts of felony murder and will be tried as an adult.
In many of the arrests in Upstate South Carolina, the suspects are 14 and younger.
In addition, a 15-year-old was charged with having a gun and alcohol in his pickup truck in Laurens County.
And on Wednesday a 16-year-old was arrested for firing a pellet from an airsoft gun that hit another student at Riverside High’s cross country practice at East Riverside Park.
The student who was hit is OK, Lt. Ryan Flood of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Investigators have not learned a motive behind the shooting and are still investigating to see if any other parties were involved,” Flood said.
Last Friday, Sept. 6, a student at Greer Middle School in Greenville County was charged after making verbal threats during a class the day before.
Greer Police said a school resource officer was made aware of the threats.
Two students were taken into custody in Oconee County this week, a 13-year-old at Walhalla Middle and a 14-year-old at Walhalla High.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office said the threats were made during a class.
Both were charged with making threats to a school and turned over to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice.
At Laurens Middle School, a 12-year-old was charged with making a threat against the school on social media.
No weapons were found in the student’s possession or on campus, Laurens Police said.
“We take the safety and security of your children — the most vulnerable citizens in our community — very seriously,” said Laurens Police Chief Heath Copeland. “We hope our response sends a clear message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”
On Wednesday, four additional arrests were made at four Greenville County schools — Blue Ridge Middle, Woodmont Middle, Greer Middle and Riverside High, Tim Waller, spokesman for Greenville County Schools said.
The Riverside High arrest was in addition to the incident at the cross country practice, Waller said.
The students ages were not released by the school district but Flood said the Blue Ridge student was 13. He is accused of writing a text thread that he was going to bring a gun to school. Authorities pulled the student from class, but he did not have a gun, Flood said.
All have been recommended for expulsion.
Six students were accused of making threats to a school in Spartanburg County, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday. The office did not release information about which schools were involved or the ages of the students.
They did say social media was involved.
The State Law Enforcement Division took a 10th grader into custody for making threats against Crescent High School in Anderson County, South Carolina.
Meanwhile, there have been dozens of incidents where school districts have investigated reported threats but found them not credible.
Nevertheless, each case brings stepped up law enforcement at schools in the immediate aftermath.
Anderson County district superintendents issued a statement saying there had been an increase in hoax threats on social media.
“We want to reassure you that our districts are working closely with state and local law enforcement agencies and take every reported threat seriously,” the statement said.
In Greenville County, school leaders, the sheriff and police chiefs of every city issued a joint statement about the rise in threats, asking parents for help in monitoring students.
“In order to effectively utilize school district and law enforcement resources, we ask parents to closely monitor their children’s social media accounts to ensure that students report concerns directly to the school or to law enforcement and not repost them on social media or share with classmates,” the statement said.
Waller said nearly every school has been impacted by rumors of a threat. The district has 106 schools and is South Carolina’s largest district with 77,000 students.
“More than a dozen GCS schools sent out parent messages yesterday alone to calm parent fears,” Waller said Wednesday. “It’s important to point out, while law enforcement investigated all of these rumored threats, none were determined to be credible.”
The district has a See Something, Say Something icon on every school Chromebook to report anything suspicious, including bullying.
“Threats made towards schools, whether intended as a joke or not, are a crime in South Carolina and can result in serious legal consequences for students or adults,” the statement said.
Among the school reporting hoaxes are Hillcrest Middle School in Greenville County, T.L. Hanna High in Anderson District 5 , and Gettys Middle School in Pickens County.
At Pickens High School a social media post initially deemed suspicious was found to be referencing a different Pickens High School in another state.
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