Third-grader threatens to stab other Beaufort County students with knife, report says

A Lady’s Island Elementary School third-grader threatened to stab other children with a knife if they reported her to an adult, but no charges were filed, a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office police report says.

The incident happened Nov. 13, but the report was recently released. The Lady’s Island student told police she found the pocketknife in the school cafeteria after breakfast and that she used it to threaten other students later that day, the report says.

Two students told deputies the girl showed them the knife and then threatened to stab them. One student said the blade was partially showing.

“I will stab you, if you tell the teacher,” one student told police the girl said.

The student said she “got scared and continued to mind her business” instead of telling a teacher immediately.

The incident was the second time this fall an elementary school student in the Beaufort County School District has made threats with a knife.

Sheriff’s Office Maj. Bob Bromage said the child was released to her parent. No criminal charges are being pursued because of her age, the report said. Children in third grade are typically 8 or 9 years old.

Several rules dictate juvenile offender cases in South Carolina, said Jeff Kidd, 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, communications director. For example, children under the age of 10 years old can not be incarcerated in a jail or detention facility for any reason, S.C. state code says.

Kidd said judges can order family counseling and similar services in juvenile cases.

The school’s principal notified all parents about the incident the day it happened, Jim Foster, school district spokesman, said Thursday.

Foster declined to discuss the student’s discipline but said students who threaten others with knives face between three to 10 days of out-of-school suspension. The discipline could include expulsion.

Many factors are considered when deciding how to discipline a student, Foster said. This includes the size of the knife, age of the child and intent expressed, he said.

In September, an elementary school student at Hilton Head Island School for Creative Arts brought two kitchen knives to school. The girl told another student she planned to kill a boy who liked another girl, according to reports.

This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 6:53 PM.