The lockdown at Benedict College has been lifted, according to officials with the school.
The lockdown was lifted after Benedict College Police received “credible information” that the suspect is not in the vicinity, said Benedict spokesperson Kymm Hunter.
The college was on lockdown for most of the day after the school received a threatening phone call from a young man threatening a massacre.
Valdez
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Hunter said police said that De-Amontez Anibario Valdez, who is not a student at the school, called the college switchboard just before noon and threatened to “shoot up the campus.”
“We are taking this very seriously,” Hunter said earlier. “We believe he is armed and is dangerous.”
Hunter said that while police are continuing to check cars and limit traffic from entering the campus, students and campus personnel are now able to move about freely.
A basketball game that was underway on the campus earlier was halted until members of the Columbia Police Department and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department were called in to assist the Benedict Police Department with the investigation.
Police were walking students to the cafeteria and escorting spectators from the basketball game.
Hunter said Valdez was apparently upset over a relationship with another individual who is not a Benedict student. That student is believed to be in a relationship with a Benedict College student, she said.
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