Fight Wednesday at May River High School leaves three teachers injured, school in lockdown
May River High School went into lockdown for two hours Wednesday after “a fight during a class change that involved a number of students” broke out and rumors swirled that someone had brought weapons to school, police said.
Bluffton Police officers responded to the school Wednesday after a rumor had spread that someone had brought weapons onto campus, Bluffton Police spokesperson Lt. Christian Gonzales said.
Three teachers were injured while trying to break up the fight, but no one required EMS transport, Gonzales said.
The school is handling the discipline for students involved in the fight, though no charges have been filed as of Thursday morning, Gonzales said.
The school moved into a modified lockdown around 11 a.m. and came out of lockdown around 1 p.m. During a modified lockdown, students continue to change classes throughout the day, but they are more closely monitored, and outdoor activities are suspended.
In a Wednesday night email to parents, principal Todd Bornscheuer wrote that “our administration received a report of an alleged threat to our school by a student on social media” for Thursday.
He added that law enforcement was investigating the threat, and the school would have “an increased presence of administration and law enforcement on our campus” Thursday.
A rash of lockdowns
This is at least the third lockdown at a Beaufort County high school in two weeks.
On Oct. 5, Beaufort High School went on lockdown after 22-year-old De-Quarious Major brought a gun to the school, according to police.
Major “was out of jail on bond for murder and three counts of attempted murder” stemming from a 2019 gas station shooting, according to police. He was under house arrest and was wearing a GPS ankle monitor.
Major got into a fight with a relative in front of his vehicle in the Beaufort High School parking lot. A bystander intervened, saw a handgun in the vehicle and “retrieved it to keep it from being used,” a release from the Beaufort Police Department read. The St. Helena man was arrested and charged with disturbing schools, possession of a firearm on school property and interfering with an officer.
Beaufort High School went on a modified lockdown the next day for a “planned canine search that was previously scheduled,” according to Beaufort County School District spokesperson Candace Bruder.
“We could have changed the date, but these are difficult to schedule with law enforcement and canine,” said Dave Grissom, the district’s chief of security. “They have certain dates they’re available. To move the date would have put this a couple months down the road.”
In addition, at least two students have brought firearms to district schools this school year.
On Sept. 10, Robert Smalls International Academy principal Tarrance Bradley found an unloaded airsoft pistol in the backpack of a sixth grade student. According to a report from Beaufort County Sheriff’s office, the student told police “he had no intention of harming anyone and only wanted to impress a girl he liked along with his friends.”
The student, whose name is not public because he is a minor, was released to his grandmother and petitioned to Family Court for bringing the weapon to campus.
On Sept. 13, Beaufort Elementary School staff found found a magazine loaded with ammunition and a black handgun in a student’s backpack.
The student told police he brought the weapon for “self-defense,” according to a report from the Beaufort Police Department. The student was released to his mother and petitioned to Family Court.
When asked if he’d seen a spike in disciplinary incidents this school year, Grissom said that he hadn’t.
“On a day-to-day basis or a weekly basis, I don’t see a dramatic increase, no. “That’s not to say that when I get the year-end stats at the end of this year, there might be an increase.”
District Executive Director Chad Cox said the district and schools across the country saw a spike in discipline in October, “when that honeymoon phase kind of begins to end.”
This story was originally published October 14, 2021 at 12:18 PM.
