SC man arrested in connection with gun and knife found inside student’s bag
A South Carolina man was arrested after a knife and a handgun was found inside the bookbag of a five-year-old student Wednesday at Harrisburg Elementary School, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.
In connection with the discovery, Alexander Storm Savarese, 29, of Indian Land, was arrested Thursday afternoon and charged with one count of unlawful conduct toward a child, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, according to a news release.
Upon voluntarily meeting with an investigator with the Lancaster Sheriff’s Office to discuss the incident, Savarese said he used the child’s bookbag to go hiking on Tuesday and placed the knife and gun inside the bag before the hike. He later forgot to remove the weapons before the kindergartner left for school Wednesday, according to the release.
Savarese was booked into the Lancaster County Detention Center Thursday afternoon. He will appear before a magistrate for a bond hearing Friday morning.
“We don’t have any information indicating the child knew the knife and the pistol were in his bookbag,” Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile said in the release. “We also don’t have any information that Savarese intended for the child to take them to school. However, it’s important that Savarese be held accountable for his conduct, which created a very real risk to the child and everybody else at Harrisburg Elementary.”
