Another teen charged with bringing a loaded gun to SC Midlands middle school

For the fourth time this week, a student has been charged with bringing a weapon to school in the South Carolina Midlands.

A St. Andrews Middle School student, 14, was charged Wednesday after a student told a school administrator there was a gun in another student’s backpack, according to a release from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

The student was charged with having a gun on school property, illegally carrying a handgun and having a handgun under the age of 18, according to the news release. The student was booked into the juvenile wing of Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

This is the fourth time this week a student in the Columbia area has been charged with bringing a weapon to school. Two Richland Northeast High students were charged earlier this week for allegedly bringing a loaded gun to school, and a Columbia High School student was arrested for allegedly having a knife on campus and threatening others, The State reported previously.

“These kids need to know that if they choose to bring a weapon of any kind onto school property, we will find out and they will go to jail,” Sheriff Leon Lott said in the news release. “We won’t tolerate this kind of reckless behavior and neither will their classmates.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 7:04 AM.