Teen said he was going to be late for class, then he was arrested, SC cops say. Here’s why
A South Carolina teenager was arrested Tuesday after he brought a loaded gun with him onto his high school’s campus, according to the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office.
Taylor Payton Weston, an 18-year-old Lugoff resident, was charged with unlawful carry of a firearm on school property, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
No one was injured during the incident, according to the sheriff’s office.
Just before noon Tuesday, Weston drove a vehicle to Lugoff-Elgin High School, according to the release. The Kershaw County District school is on U.S. 1 in Lugoff, near the junction with U.S. 601.
A deputy saw Weston fail to stop for a stop sign at Richardson Boulevard and Wildwood Lane before the teen pulled into the rear parking lot of Lugoff-Elgin High School, where he parked the vehicle, the sheriff’s office said. The intersection where the traffic violation is alleged to have happened is about a mile from the high school.
The deputy approached and saw Weston was the driver, and the only occupant in the vehicle, according to the release. The deputy smelled marijuana inside the vehicle and conducted a search, while Weston said he was going to be late to class, the sheriff’s office said.
The deputy found an unsecured, loaded handgun under the driver’s seat and THC vapes in both the center console as well as the driver’s side door, according to the release.
It was confirmed that Weston was a current Lugoff-Elgin High student and his next class was at 12:04 p.m., the sheriff’s office said. Weston didn’t make it to that class, as he was arrested, according to the release.
Weston was booked into the Kershaw County Detention Center, the sheriff’s office said. Bond was set at $2,000 and posted Wednesday morning, Kershaw County court records show.
Weston cooperated with deputies, and there is no indication that the teen “had any intentions of taking the handgun out of his vehicle,” the sheriff’s office said.
Weston doesn’t have any major school disciplinary incidents, according to the release. Minor traffic violations are the only prior incidents on his criminal record, court records show.
“At this time, we have no reason to believe Weston had any intentions to harm anyone with the firearm,” Sheriff Lee Boan said in the release. “However, my office and the Kershaw County School District will maintain our ‘zero tolerance’ policy when it comes to firearms being unlawfully possessed on school grounds in Kershaw County.”
Weston is scheduled to appear in court again May 13, judicial records show.
Information about what discipline Weston will face from the school district was not available, but in a letter to parents Lugoff-Elgin High School Principal Corey Wright said “school administrators will follow district procedures and board policy in administering disciplinary consequences related to this incident,” WIS reported.
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