Loaded handgun was found in Beaufort student’s bag during ‘unrelated incident’
School officials at Battery Creek High School found a loaded pistol inside a male student’s backpack while disciplining him for an “unrelated incident” Wednesday afternoon, police said.
Administrators were meeting with the 16-year-old around 3 p.m. Wednesday when the school resource officer was asked to search the student, according to Lt. Danny Allen of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
That’s when the officer found the firearm inside the student’s bag, prompting the school of about 800 students to undergo “secure status.” All the building’s doors were locked as teachers continued lesson plans inside their classrooms.
Police secured the scene by 3:45 p.m. in time for regularly scheduled dismissal, according to school district spokesperson Candace Bruder.
The incident came only hours after a gunman opened fire during Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, killing two children and injuring 17 other people before dying by suicide.
The student was taken to the Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia and charged with two felonies, Allen said: one for bringing a weapon onto school property and another for carrying the firearm under the age of 18.
The Beaufort County School District’s policies say any student who brings a firearm to school is put up for expulsion.
Allen said the pistol was not flagged as stolen, but as of Thursday police were waiting to hear back from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about whose name the gun was registered under.
The unexpected discovery of the pistol on Thursday contrasts many past gun-related incidents in Beaufort County schools, where police and administrators were tipped off by students about suspicious activity.
“We urge parents, guardians and caregivers to have conversations with their children about the seriousness of incidents like this and the importance of immediately reporting any knowledge of weapons on school grounds to school staff,” the sheriff’s office said in a release following the incident.
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 1:02 PM.
