‘I have a gun’: Bluffton’s River Ridge Academy lockdown lifted after bathroom message found
Bluffton River Ridge’s Academy was on lockdown Thursday afternoon after a message in a bathroom warned of a gun on campus, according to officials.
As of 2 p.m., the lockdown was lifted and a suspect had been identified, the school’s principal, Brian Ryman, announced to parents in an email. The threat was “determined to be non-credible” and charges are pending, Ryman said.
In an earlier email to parents, Ryman announced the school was in a modified lockdown and that the Bluffton Police Department was investigating. The note found was found on a bathroom mirror, according to Beaufort County School District spokesperson Candace Bruder. It said, “I have a gun shot at 12 p.m. share.”
Officers from the Bluffton Police Department were on campus to investigate. Sgt. Bonifacio Perez with the Bluffton Police Department said that at least four of their officers were on campus including the school resource officer who was already there. The officers were dispatched to the school around 11:45 a.m., he said. After conducting a search no weapons or “means to carry out what was written” were found and the student will be petitioned to Family Court and charged with school threats, he said.
“Please take this opportunity to discuss these types of threats with your child,” Ryman said in the message. “We take these types of threats seriously, which includes reporting to law enforcement. Students who commit these kinds of infractions are subject to school discipline as well as law enforcement action.”
This is at least the 10th time that a Beaufort County school has received threats in the last several months, according to previous reporting by the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
A Robert Smalls International Academy student left a written note in a girl’s bathroom on Jan. 7 threatening to shoot up the school. That student was petitioned to Family Court and charged with school threats and released to their mother’s custody, a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report said
On Jan. 14, graffiti was found in a Battery Creek High School bathroom threatening to shoot up the school on Jan. 17 followed by anti-Semitic symbols.
In December, seven schools within the district from Hilton Head Island to the Whale Branch cluster were threatened within the same week.
Last week, a security officer at Mossy Oaks Elementary was relieved of their duties after leaving a gun in a staff bathroom where anyone could walk in.
This story will be updated if more information becomes available.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 1:27 PM.
