Sumter teen charged with setting fire at local high school | The State

SUMTER, SC A 15-year-old student at Lakewood High School in Sumter County has been charged with setting two fires at the school around 11 am Tuesday that injured a school resource officer who put the fires out.

The unnamed juvenile admitted setting the small fires fueled by toilet paper in two separate bathrooms, Sumter sheriff department spokesman Braden Bunch said. Bunch did not know how the youth was identified as a suspect in the case.

The school was not evacuated when the fires were discovered.

The young man, who was taken to the Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia, has admitted setting other recent fires under investigation by the Sumter Police Department, Bunch said.

School resource officer Matthew Choice was taken to Tuomey Hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation. “He’s expected to be treated and released soon,” Bunch said.