Man, 24, charged with threatening to ‘shoot up’ SC high school

A 24-year-old man was charged with making threats to two Orangeburg County high schools, sheriff’s officials announced Wednesday.

The suspect’s identity was not immediately released. The Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon that it will provide additional information later.

“This will not be tolerated for one second,” Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said in the statement. “Once this type of threat was made, we began searching for the one who made it. After the horrific incident involving a fatal school shooting last week in Florida, this made this type of threat even more heinous.”

Someone posted “shoot up OW TOMORROW 725 AM?” on social media, and the post was brought to the attention of law enforcement and school district officials Tuesday afternoon.

Orangeburg County sheriff’s investigators, State Law Enforcement Division agents and U.S. Marshals began searching for the person who made the post, the sheriff’s office said.

“We’ve been tracking this individual and searching his most visited locations throughout the county since a few minutes after the threat was received,” Ravenell said. The suspect was arrested around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Deputies were still sent to Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School Wednesday morning to reassure parents, students, and school staff that they were well protected.

“We don’t believe there is any further threat,” Ravenell said. “This individual acted alone.”

The suspect is expected at a bond hearing Thursday morning.

“This is a frightening and simply callous incident that comes less than a week after a nation found itself grieving for 17 students in Florida,” Ravenell said. “However, we acted immediately to find this individual and put an end to the opportunity before another tragedy occurred. I’m just disappointed and angered someone would do this here in our community.”

This story was originally published February 21, 2018 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Man, 24, charged with threatening to ‘shoot up’ SC high school."