Rumors Spark Heightened Security at Both Kershaw and Fairfield County Schools

Kershaw County, S.C. (WOLO)– Friday, Fairfield and Kershaw county schools had added security because of a possible threat, but after investigations, both counties determined it was just a rumor.  Law Enforcement is being hyper vigilant around schools after the Florida school shooting and recent threats around the state. Kershaw and Fairfield counties investigated what they thought were real threats after getting calls from concerned parents about what they were seeing on social media.

“The picture that we received was a copy of the picture out of Spartanburg, but they cropped it so to speak. And they put a banner on the picture and put an emphasis on Luggoff Elgin High School,” Jack Rushing, Chief Deputy of Kershaw County Sheriff’s Department, said. 

“Of course, we wanted to look into it, we did not want to take it lightly. We wanted to take it very seriously and make sure we got to the bottom of it,” Will Montgomery said, Sheriff of Fairfield County. 

All schools in Fairfield County had a heightened security presence, as did Lugoff-Elgin High School, just as a precaution. All threats turned out to not be credible, but law enforcement was not taking the rumors as a joke.  

“It just puts an undue burden on us that what’s considered a joke is not a joke,” Rushing said. 

“We’re going to take every threat and rumor seriously. We’re going to make sure we take care of our kids and our teachers also,” Montgomery said.  Law enforcement is asking parents to help them as they weed through credible and non-credible threats. They say the biggest thing parents need to be looking at is their kids behavior on social media.

“I would like the parents to stay on top of their kids social media. And see what’s going on. That’s pretty much how we got this information. Because a parent noticed it on social media, on one of the children’s social media, and we did all the investigation and found out where it came from,” Montgomery said. 

“The thing is put the phone down sometime and have a verbal conversation with your children and explain to them what the reactions are and the actions that are on social media. It’s so easy just to send a text, but you don’t know from a picture or words who’s going to share that information or how someone is going to interpret those words,” Rushing said. 

Both Kershaw and Fairfield Sheriff’s offices emphasized they have to look into anything that looks threatening that involves a school. Obviously after the Florida shooting they’re investigating every piece of information they get thoroughly.