Okatie parent threatened to shoot daughter’s classmate over harassment, police say

A parent at Okatie Elementary School was placed on a no-trespass notice after they threatened to shoot a second-grader they say was sexually harassing their child, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.

Police were called to the school at 2:40 p.m. on March 3 after a parent called school officials to complain, the report said. The parent alleged that their child’s classmate was “repeatedly” getting underneath their desk to look up her skirt. The offending student would then say inappropriate things, according to the report.

The parent called the school on March 3 and was “livid,” the school administration told police. Over the phone, the Okatie Elementary parent allegedly told school officials that they were “so mad I have half a mind to get one of my husband’s guns and shoot the little [expletive].”

Out of an “abundance of caution,” the school notified the other student’s parents and an officer from the Sheriff’s Office notified the complaining parent that they were “not allowed back on the school property and that she was otherwise being placed on a trespass notice,” police said in the report. The complaining parent told the police in the report that they would not be bringing their child back to school unless the other student was moved to a different classroom.

The parent did not want to press charges against the student, they told police. In a since-deleted post on social media, the parent wrote that “the boy deserves to die.”

No charges were filed, and none of the parties involved were identified.

The incident is still an active investigation, Maj. Bob Bromage with the Sheriff’s Office said.

Beaufort County School District spokesperson Candace Bruder said, is unable to comment on ongoing law enforcement investigations or student disciplinary matters. Incidences of sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, can be made by contacting the school district’s Title IX Coordinator.

This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 4:55 AM.