LANCASTER, S.C. — Authorities are still investigating who is behind fake 911 calls of active shooters that put several South Carolina schools in crisis mode. More than a dozen schools were impacted across the state yesterday, including in Chester County, Lancaster County, and Chesterfield County.
In Lancaster County, school leaders said 50 law enforcement vehicles responded to South Middle School after someone called 911 and said there was an active shooter in the building. The call was a hoax --- one of several in the state happening around the same time.
Bryan Vaughn with the Lancaster County School District told WCNC Charlotte they believe that call came from inside the school.
“We believe it was a student because the phone call originated from within the school, so we’re confident that it wasn’t a staff member,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn said the hoax pulled valuable resources away from other parts of the county, creating a vulnerable situation. He believes it may be tied to something seen on social media.
“It couldn’t be a coincidence that 10 school districts had it. It had to be something that was put out there on social media and somebody jumped on it,” Vaughn said.
Both the FBI and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division are investigating but couldn’t confirm who the caller is or where the calls came from.
Tonight, US Representative Ralph Norman said he wants an investigation into what happened --- and changes to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“Everything needs to be looked at. It needs to be revamped. This is serious. This is a form of terrorism,” Norman said.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, who was in Lancaster County for an event on Thursday, said authorities are looking for whoever is responsible for the calls.
If the caller was a student, Vaughn said they could be expelled. They could also be charged with conveying false information, facing a fine of up to $5,000 and 5 years in prison.
“It is a dangerous, cruel hoax. There are laws against this. I know that the FBI and SLED… are all over it,” Governor McMaster said.
On Friday, McMaster's office released the following statement:
Governor Henry McMaster wrote a letter today to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Chief Mark Keel requesting that the agency work with local law enforcement and public school district officials to analyze the response to a string of threatening hoax phone calls made to numerous schools across the state on Wednesday, October 5.
“According to media coverage of the hoax calls, hundreds of law enforcement officers and first responders immediately rushed to the schools, some officers made it to campus and were inside the school buildings within two minutes,” the governor wrote in his letter. “I believe this situation provides our state’s law enforcement agencies with a rare opportunity to learn from this unprecedented incident; to learn what worked best and what can be improved upon.”
The governor continued: “I ask the State Law Enforcement Division to work collaboratively with local officials to review the response to the October 5, 2022, active shooter hoax at our public schools and provide best practices to all the state’s public-school districts and law enforcement agencies. These events require extensive training and preparedness, and I am confident this review will further enhance law enforcement’s ability to combat such criminal attacks.”
Additionally, since 2018 when the governor made it a top priority, the number of public schools in South Carolina with a school resource officer has increased by 140%. In 2018, only 406 schools had a designated school resource officer. This year, 982 of the state’s public schools have a trained law enforcement officer in the school, all day, every day.
Contact Indira Eskieva at ieskieva@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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