Lexington County middle school boys found with blades on campus

Two Irmo Middle School students are facing expulsion after they were caught with blades at school, and one of them also was armed with two crowbars and a bungee cord and had made threats, authorities said.

No one was reported injured in what Lexington County deputies say were unrelated incidents on Wednesday and Friday.

One student was charged with a weapons violation. Both were sent home with their mothers, the sheriff’s department said. The students’ ages are not being released.

Schools officials have recommended the boys be expelled, Lexington-Richland 5 spokesperson Katrina Goggins said Tuesday.

A teacher noticed on Friday morning that a boy was hiding something behind his back, the on-campus deputy reported. The student turned over a crowbar. A search of the child at the front office discovered a second crowbar, a utility razor-style blade and the cord, the deputy reported.

The principal told the deputy that the student made threats against others and himself. The child also said he had taken medication that made him very tired. An ambulance was summoned, according to the deputy’s report.

Officers tried to reach the boy’s mother without success. The student is charged with a weapons violation.

Two days before, another male student was spotted by three staff members carrying a 3-inch blade. The child said he found it on the ground, a deputy reported. The blade had no handle and appeared to be part of a tool. The deputy turned over the blade as evidence.

The child’s mother was called to the school and took him with her. No charges have been filed, sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Adam Myrick said Tuesday.

“The district takes matters of school safety very seriously,” Goggins said in a statement.

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Lexington County middle school boys found with blades on campus."