Beaufort County elementary school student discharged a taser on school bus, police say
A student at Broad River Elementary School brought a taser to class in her bookbag a day after discharging it on her school bus, according to a new police report from Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
On Oct. 25, a parent called the Beaufort County School District bus garage to report that a student had used a taser while on the bus after school. The next day, two students told assistant principal Heather Finch that “a student did have something that sounded like a taser, but they only heard it.”
Finch called the student, who was not named in the report because she is a minor, out of class. The student told her that she did have a taser on the bus but said it wasn’t in her bookbag. Finch searched the student’s bookbag and found the taser in the front pocket.
According to the report, the student’s mother told police “she had bought a bag of toys from the Laurel Bay Flea Market, and the taser must have been in the bag.” She said she did not recognize the taser when police showed it to her.
Police took the taser. The student was briefly detained by police but was released into custody to her mother. No charges are being pursued.
Other cases
At least three other people have brought weapons to Beaufort County School District campuses this fall, including two students and one adult.
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.
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.