SC dropout who brought gun to old high school arrested after car chase

A teenager who dropped out of a South Carolina high school was arrested after he showed up at the school Tuesday – with a BB gun.

Clayton Keith Hopkins, 17, was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds by Simpsonville police, according to multiple reports.

Beth Brotherton, a Greenville County Schools spokesperson, said a school resource officer at Hillcrest High School got a tip that a former student might have been in the school parking lot with a gun, foxcarolina.com reported.

“When the SRO and the assistant principal went to investigate the suspect fled in his vehicle,” Brotherton said to foxcarolina.com. “He got stuck in car line traffic and swerved off the road and into a fence.”

Brotherton said the suspect continued onto I-385 and was apprehended by Simpsonville police.

No one was injured and the school operated as normal, according to wyff4.com.

The dropout was also charged with reckless driving, according to foxcarolina.com. According to arrest warrants, Hopkins tried to distribute prescription pills at the school and displayed the BB gun in plain view.

Hopkins was taken to the Greenville County Detention Center on an $11,000 bond foxcarolina.com reported.

Greenville County School District spokeswoman Elizabeth Brotherton said in an email that the teen had dropped out of school and officials were trying to get him to re-enroll, cbsnews.com reported.