TikTok threat leads to increased police presence at 5 Beaufort Co. schools, officials say
Police are stepping up patrols around five Bluffton-area schools this week due to a threatening social media post, continuing the month’s unprecedented wave of school threats following a deadly school shooting in Georgia.
The Beaufort County School District was informed Tuesday morning of a TikTok video “referencing a potential threat” at the schools with a list of dates, one of which had already passed: Bluffton Elementary School on Monday, H.E. McCracken Middle School on Tuesday, Bluffton Middle School on Wednesday, Red Cedar Elementary School on Thursday and M.C. Riley Elementary School on Friday.
All five schools are within the jurisdiction of the Bluffton Police Department, according to spokesperson Eydie Moody. In addition to school resource officers inside the buildings, other officers would focus patrol routes in the parking lots and roads neighboring each of the campuses for “at least the next few days,” she said.
Moody said the post was a “general threat” with no reference to a specific shooting incident or other type of event. As of Tuesday afternoon, police believed the video “did not seem to be a credible threat,” she said.
The spokeswoman would not say if police knew the identify of the person who made the post. No charges had been applied in connection with the threat as police continued to investigate, she added.
In South Carolina and nationwide, school threats saw a large uptick in September after a 14-year-old student opened fire at his high school in Barrow County, Georgia, killing two students and two teachers. Last week, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said state agents were aware of over 60 threats across 23 counties, leading to the arrests of 21 juveniles.
All threats to Beaufort-area schools were found to be unsubstantiated, with many beginning as social media rumors and spreading across the student body via word of mouth.
At least one Beaufort County student has been criminally charged in connection with the wave of threats, which has brought scores of law enforcement to local campuses and forced a Port Royal YMCA into lockdown during its preschool program, among other police precautions.
This story was originally published September 24, 2024 at 4:41 PM.
