DARLINGTON, S.C. (WBTW) — A male juvenile was taken into custody Wednesday evening after allegedly sending threats of violence to a Darlington County school for two consecutive days, police said.
The juvenile was taken into custody at about 6:30 p.m. after an investigation by Darlington police, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the FBI, police said.
Authorities did not initially provide any additional details about the investigation, but during a news conference Thursday afternoon with city and school leaders, officials said electronic threats were sent to administrators at Darlington High School on consecutive days and that the suspect is a student in the district who is younger than 18.
Authorities said the school was placed on lockdown after the initial threat, which was received by administrators and passed along to a school resource officer and then to the city’s police department.
Police Chief James Davis said Thursday that authorities, including the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the FBI, were involved in the investigation and that they were able to obtain a computer IP address and obtain a warrant to search the suspect’s residence.
In a news release Wednesday night, Davis said this behavior will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. He also said investigators in his department spent many hours working with other agencies to identify the juvenile.
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The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with any information is asked to call Darlington police at 843-398-4026.
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Dennis Bright is a digital producer at News13. Dennis is a West Virginia native and graduate of Marshall University. He has won copyediting and journalism awards in Virginia and Ohio. Follow Dennis on Twitter and read more of his work here.