Midlands high school placed on lockout after shooting threat, SC sheriff says
A high school in the Midlands was placed on lockout Monday when someone threatened there would be a shooting on the campus, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said.
The threat turned out to be fake, but Crestwood High School officials and law enforcement officers didn’t take any chances before that was discovered, the sheriff’s office said in a news release..
“We always take threats of any violence in our schools very serious,” Sheriff Anthony Dennis said in the release.
An anonymous call was made saying someone was “getting ready to shoot Crestwood up,” the sheriff’s office said. The school is in the area between U.S. 401 and North Main Street, a few miles north of downtown Sumter.
After discovering the threat, the Sumter School District sent a message to parents of students saying that “out of an abundance of caution, Crestwood High School has been placed on lockout,” according to the release.
In the message Crestwood High Principal Dr. Shirley Gamble said a lockout is when a potential threat is outside of the school, so they locked all exterior doors and called for more law enforcement officers to come to the campus.
“Our top priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and staff,” Gamble said. “Our pledge to you is that we will take all incidents very seriously.”
Deputies verified there was no actual threat and students were safe to resume class, the sheriff’s office said.
“We are grateful for the quick response by the school staff, our school resource officer and patrol deputies,” Dennis said. “Deputies were able to quickly verify the safety of the students and began to separate fact from rumor.”
Dennis said his department is investigating who made the threat.
“Our children should have a completely safe learning environment,” Dennis said. “Individuals that make false allegations of threats are as disruptive and dangerous as a real threat and should be held accountable as such.”
Echoing that message, Gamble said that if it is discovered a student or students made the threat, they could face punishment from the Sumter School District in addition to any charges from the sheriff’s office.
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