Sumter High School student charged, accused of lying about school threat

SUMTER, S.C. (WIS) - A high school student fabricated a story about a classmate having a gun and threatening to shoot up the school, police said.

The 16-year-old student, who will not be named because of her age, told school officials a classmate showed her a gun in a bathroom on Monday morning. The other girl was upset, the student told officials, and threatened to shoot up the school.

The Sumter Police Department briefly put the school on a kind of lockdown, asking students to stay in their classrooms as they investigated.

Officers quickly determined there was no real threat to the school. The student who made the report later admitted to police she made up the story.

“We take all threats to schools very seriously," Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark said. “Appropriate actions must be taken anytime a false claim like this is made.”

The student is charged with filing a false report. She was taken to the Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia.

School officials said during the investigation, class changes were delayed about an hour. They sent the following statement:

“This morning, law enforcement was at Sumter High School investigating an alleged threat that was reported to the school. While the transition of classes was delayed, the school day is now proceeding as normal. All students are safe, and no incident has occurred. Our first and most important priority is the safety of our students and staff, and our pledge to our parents is that we will continue to work with law enforcement in the investigation. There was no credibility to the threat.”

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