Rumors of shooting threats at Midlands schools debunked in wake of Florida massacre
Two Midlands sheriff’s offices shut down rumors of school shooting threats Friday in the wake of the deadly mass shooting at a Florida high school this week.
The Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook Friday morning that a “false rumor” about a shooting threat at Lugoff-Elgin High School had begun spreading Thursday.
“THERE IS NO THREAT TO LEHS AS PER A WIDELY SPREAD RUMOR,” the sheriff’s office wrote, adding that a photo of a young man with a gun that had been shared actually came from “a situation in the Upstate that was handled by law enforcement.”
Presumably, that statement referred to a student at Broome High School in Spartanburg who allegedly posted a picture of himself holding a gun on Snapchat with the caption, “Round 2 of Florida tomorrow.”
In Fairfield County, the sheriff’s office also took to Facebook on Friday to quell rumors of a shooting threat at Fairfield Central High School.
Sheriff’s investigators “have found no substantiated or credible threats thus far,” the office wrote on Facebook. “However, in the interest of alleviating any concerns and/or fears that students, staff, and parents may have, the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office is providing an increased law enforcement presence in our schools throughout the day.”
In the Upstate on Friday morning, a bomb squad was sent to Abbeville High School after a threat posted on social media by one of its students, the Index-Journal newspaper reported.
Numerous school shooting threats have cropped up across the nation in the days following the mass shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed and 15 others wounded by a 19-year-old gunman.
And those threats don’t come without legitimate worry, as up to 30 percent of mass killings can be traced back to other ones from the past 13 days, according to a 2015 study from researchers at Arizona State University and Northeastern Illinois University.
This story was originally published February 16, 2018 at 9:40 AM with the headline "Rumors of shooting threats at Midlands schools debunked in wake of Florida massacre."