Group text referenced possible shooting at a Beaufort County high school this week

A group text message that included speculation a student might be a school shooting threat led to extra officers being at a Beaufort County high school Wednesday.

A woman told a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputy her nephew had been part of a group text message that indicated a shooting could occur at Battery Creek High School on Wednesday, a Sheriff’s Office report said. The school resource officer was called and additional officers sent to the school.

No threat was found, and there was never a threat from the student who was the subject of the texts, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Bob Bromage said.

The high school was not locked down Wednesday, Beaufort County School District spokesman Jim Foster said.

The scare is another in a series of rumors law enforcement and school officials have addressed since a gunman killed 17 people at a Parkland, Fla., high school on Feb. 14.

Beaufort High School was placed on modified lockdown for about an hour Friday afternoon while a social media post was investigated. Beaufort police are investigating.

In two separate incidents at Hilton Head Island Middle School last week, a shooting threat and report of a gun at school were investigated and found to be unsubstantiated.

Also last week, a Beaufort Middle School student reported a threat on a bathroom wall.

On Thursday, a Robert Smalls International Academy student made a “general threat of violence” against the school, but deputies found no evidence of a weapon on school property. The investigation is still active, Bromage said Friday.

This story was originally published March 2, 2018 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Group text referenced possible shooting at a Beaufort County high school this week."