14-year-old girl charged with wielding knife in fight at Richland Co. school, cops say
A teenage girl is being held at an area jail after she pulled out a knife during a fight with other students on the campus of a high school in Columbia on Monday, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said.
The incident happened at Richland Northeast High School, the sheriff’s department said in a news release. The Richland District 2 school is on Brookfield Road in Columbia, near Decker Boulevard.
The 14-year-old student is facing multiple charges after she was involved in a fight with two other students and pulled out the knife, the sheriff’s department said in a news release.
Administrators and the school resource officer intervened quickly and the other students were not hurt, according to the release.
The 14-year-old, whose name is not being released because of her age, was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature due to presenting the knife during the fight, as well as carrying a weapon on school property, the sheriff’s department said.
The teen was booked into the juvenile wing of Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
“Students should never bring weapons onto school grounds and they face serious consequences when they do,” Richland Northeast High Principal Mark Sims said earlier this year. “In accordance with state and federal law, (Richland 2) states that a student who brings a weapon to school faces expulsion of no less than one year.”
There was no word if the high school was placed on any kind of lockdown during the incident, but it was one of the Richland 2 schools that was under a lockout for a separate incident.
As the sheriff’s department searched for two people wanted following a chase, all Richland 2 schools were placed on lockout as a precaution, district officials said Monday. There was no direct threat to any of the schools and the people were ultimately arrested after a brief standoff, the sheriff’s department said.
This is not the first time a student has brought a weapon onto the Richland Northeast High campus.
In May, a 15-year-old student was arrested after he was found with a loaded gun, the sheriff’s department said.
In February, a different 15-year-old student was arrested on multiple charges after he was found with an unloaded gun on school grounds, the sheriff’s department said.
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