By Tony Kukulich
A 16-year-old Grays Hill resident was detained by law enforcement after he brought a handgun onto Whale Branch Early College High School property Friday night, Oct. 7.
He is the second Beaufort County School District student in just two days to face a weapons charge for carrying a firearm onto school district property.
According to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, the teen brought the weapon to the school’s football stadium during the game between Whale Branch and Estill High School.
Shortly before 10 p.m., Sheriff’s Office deputies were patrolling the stadium when they encountered a student near the concession stand who had dropped something. Deputies approached, and he tried to conceal the item he had dropped.
When the teen dropped the item a second time, deputies discovered he was concealing a firearm. The student ran from the scene while the deputies collected and secured the gun. His identity and address were provided by school officials who attended the game.
Deputies went to the student’s home where they spoke with the boy and his mother. He was detained and transported to the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice. He is charged with carrying a weapon on school property.
A 14-year-old student at Battery Creek High School was detained by deputies Thursday, Oct. 6, after an investigation determined that the boy had brought a firearm to school the prior day.
In that instance, the school initiated a security lockdown when they learned that a student on campus was believed to have a gun in his possession. Deputies located the boy and conducted a search of the areas that he had access to. No weapon was found, but evidence collected indicated that he had brought a weapon onto school grounds one day earlier.
The student was detained at the Department of Juvenile Justice and is being petitioned to Family Court for possession of a firearm on school property.
Tony Kukulich is a recent transplant to the Lowcountry. A native of Wilmington, Del., he comes to The Island News from the San Francisco Bay Area where he spent seven years as a reporter and photographer for several publications. He can be reached at tony.theislandnews@gmail.com.
