Beaufort County student posts 'alarming' videos that reference Hitler, threat to kill
A Beaufort County charter school student posted "alarming" YouTube videos that included references to Adolf Hitler and swastikas, spurring Beaufort County Sheriff's Office to investigate a potential threat to students' safety earlier this week.
It's the latest in a long list of potential school threats reported to Beaufort County law enforcement in the wake of a mass shooting at a suburban Florida high school that killed 17 people on Valentine's Day.
A Bridges Preparatory School student is accused of posting four videos to his YouTube channel and encouraging other students at the Beaufort charter school to view them, according to a sheriff's office report made available Thursday. In one of the videos, the male student references a threat he previously made to kill his mother and a 24-hour mental evaluation he had at a treatment facility in Conway, S.C. Another included comments on swastikas as well as "Hitler's mustache and how nice it was."
Principal Chris Wilson watched the videos Tuesday and noted the number of views was "steadily increasing," before the videos "disappeared," the report said. Before Wilson watched the videos, the male student's father told the school's assistant principal that the videos would be taken down.
The male student's mother described her child as "suffering from (redacted) and having trouble dealing with students who pick on or bully him," the report said.
She told a deputy her child had been visiting Coastal Mental Health, but had a "falling out" with his doctor. The 24-hour evaluation did nothing for the male student's mental state and "stunted any progress he had been making." She said her child was on medication and that she would seek out a long-term facility for him.
Wilson told a deputy that the male student would receive "no punishment" because the videos were not made on school property and did not cause a disturbance at school.
The responding deputy was unable to determine that any content in the video was directed toward the school or specific students, so no further action was taken by law enforcement.
The school, a part of the South Carolina Public Charter School District, opened its doors in downtown Beaufort in August 2013 and currently serves nearly 700 students in kindergarten through 10th grade.
This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 11:10 AM with the headline "Beaufort County student posts 'alarming' videos that reference Hitler, threat to kill."