SC youth gets 6 years in explosives incident

CONWAY, S.C. (AP) — A former South Carolina high school student will serve six years in prison for wounding a school resource officer and bringing pipe bombs to Socastee High School last year.

The 15-year-old was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cooper Wednesday.

He told the judge he did not mean to pull the trigger and wants people to be proud of him and to be better.

The defendant entered an Alford plea Monday to a charge of attempted murder in the incident last September. The plea does not admit guilt, but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of transporting or possession of parts of a destructive device. The youth faced 30 years on the attempted murder charge and 15 on the explosives charges.