Student brings knife to Beaufort Co. high school in 7th weapon incident this year
A Beaufort County high school student was petitioned to Family Court last week after bringing a knife to school, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.
The student, whose name is redacted from the report because he is a minor, attends Whale Branch Early College High School.
After school on March 9, a school resource officer brought the student to a school social worker’s office because of a comment he allegedly made in class. In the police report, the student denied making the initial comment.
The social worker asked the student if he had anything in his pockets, and he told her he had a pocket knife.
He gave her the knife, which was a black folding knife with a three-inch blade, and said that “he had a pocket knife because he carried one every day.”
He also said “he did not intend to hurt anyone and was not having issues with anyone at school.”
The student was released into the custody of a family member and petitioned to Family Court.
At least seven weapons have been reported in Beaufort County schools this school year, with two firearms brought by students to school and two brought to campus by adults, including a campus security guard who left his gun unattended in a staff bathroom at an elementary school. The guard has since been replaced.
A knife was found in a Beaufort Elementary School bathroom in December, and a Broad River Elementary student brought a taser to class in her bookbag a day after discharging it on her school bus in November.