Greenville, Upstate schools deal with violent threats in wake of Florida shooting

Schools in Greenville County and across the Upstate are increasing security and dealing with rising numbers of student absences as they face a spike in threat reports after a school shooting in Florida that killed 17 this month.

Between Tuesday and Friday, the Greenville County school district handled about a dozen threat investigations, spokeswoman Beth Brotherton said. The number of threats is at an all-time high, she said.

One Anderson County parent kept her children home because they were afraid they'd be in danger at school. Stephanie Smith, who has a son at Westside High in Anderson, said she felt that the schools were too dangerous to risk them being there this week.

Although the threats around the Upstate have not proven credible, school leaders and law enforcement agencies throughout the region investigate each one. It is one way to ensure students in the Upstate are safe when they go to school.

“Everything is investigated as a real threat until it’s proven otherwise because you can’t afford not to. We've spent countless hours on the clock investigating these,” Brotherton said.

In Greenville County, a notice went out to parents to make them aware of the investigations. Parents have been told that law enforcement has bolstered its presence at each of the schools that have received threats.

On Friday, a student at Blue Ridge High School was arrested and charged with disturbing schools. The student reportedly spread a rumor Thursday night that he planned to carry out a school shooting on Friday, but later told authorities he was joking, Brotherton said.

A similar situation occurred Tuesday at Hillcrest High School in Simpsonville involving a student who had spread a rumor about a school shooting from the parking lot. He, too, claimed to be joking, and the student was also charged with disturbing schools, Brotherton said.

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Three of the cases in Greenville County involved social media posts that were shared but turned out to be tied to schools in other states. Others were just rumors that could not be traced back to any single social media post or student, Brotherton said.

Additional law enforcement officers were placed at Woodmont High School in response to a rumored threat this week that was deemed not credible. The next day, a threatening note was found written on a bathroom wall.

Bolstering the law enforcement presence at a school is a typical response to a threat.

Student absences have been double what they normally would be this week as a result of parents keeping their children home if a threat has been reported, Brotherton said.

"Students are on edge and instruction time is being lost," Brotherton said. "I think this is the greatest extent we’ve ever seen it."

One of Smith's two children who stayed home Friday attends Westside High School, where a rumored threat was reported Thursday night.

“It’s kind of hard to say about credibility, but it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Smith said. “I believe personally it’s just kids wanting attention and to get out from going to school but it ruins the experience for the children that actually want to learn, like my boys, because they are too terrified to go to school.”

Smith said her sons asked her if they could stay home Friday because “they don’t want to die.”

Brotherton suggested that the amount of social media platforms today may be influencing the trend of recent threats compared to spikes of a smaller scale in years' past.

"The amount of rumor, fear and to some extent, hysteria has certainly been greater than any of us have seen in recent memory," Brotherton said.

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Sgt. Ryan Flood, with the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies investigate every threat report.

Flood said many of the threats reported locally were connected to threats in other states but found through social media shares.

“Some have been through Snapchats that were shared and we come to find out that one was in Michigan, another was in Ohio,” he said. “We get to the base of the allegation or the complaint and see exactly where it stems from and who’s responsible.”

State law prohibits making threats against schools. Those found responsible can be charged with disturbing schools, a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to $1,000 or 90 days in prison, according to state statute. 

The rise in threats is not going unnoticed by state lawmakers. A state Senate judiciary subcommittee voted unanimously Thursday to approve a bill that would make it a crime to specifically threaten to cause injury, death or property damage with a firearm at a school.

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In Spartanburg County, Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Kevin Bobo said "there's no way to put a number" on the amount of rumored threats that have come in since the Florida shooting. The vast majority have been social media post shares from elsewhere, he said.

Because a threat on social media may say "SHS," for example, people assume it to be Spartanburg High School when in fact it was tied to a school in Springfield, Ohio, Bobo said.

One case, however, was traced back to a freshman at Broome High School after a post on Snapchat depicted the student holding a weapon that turned out to be a pellet gun. The post read "Round 2 of Florida tomorrow." That student was charged with disturbing schools Feb. 14 and remained in detention after a family court hearing Tuesday, Bobo said. 

"Broome has additional security today (Friday), and they've asked for additional security for next two weeks. That’s just out of abundance of caution," Bobo said on Friday.

"The majority of what we’re dealing with is rumor mill," he said.

In Oconee County, two high school students were arrested Wednesday after making what appear to be baseless threats. The students have not been identified publicly because of their ages. They are charged with disturbing schools. Several other students were suspended.

"School and law enforcement officials will continue to vigilantly investigate threats of violence and will prosecute individuals guilty of making or spreading threats within the school community," the Oconee County School District said on its website.

In Laurens County, two students were charged after the investigation into two perceived threats of violence at Laurens High School in Laurens County School District 55. One student was charged with disturbing schools and the other was charged with making a bomb threat.

"Keeping our schools and our children safe will always be our first priority. We strive to make sure that our future generations have a safe and secure learning environment," Sheriff Don Reynolds said in a statement. "Any threats and/or inappropriate comments which cause fear in a school environment will not be tolerated and will be dealt with swiftly and accordingly." 

Jimmy Watt, a spokesman for the Oconee County Sheriff's Office, said Friday that the agency had received no word of any new school threats.

"We think and we hope that we have that behind us," he said.

Bobo said he agreed that the spike should "calm down" soon.

Nikie Mayo contributed to this report.