When the SRO went to the classroom at Berea High School where the student was supposed to be, he was not there. The school was locked down until deputies located the student, who was in a classroom across the hall.
Greenville County sheriff's Lt. Ryan Flood reported:
This morning, at around 11:15 a.m., the School Resource Officer (SRO) at Berea High School received information that a 16 year-old student had a gun inside of his backpack.
The information was initially reported by another student who then informed school staff. When the SRO went to the student’s classroom to make contact with him, he discovered the student had walked out of the classroom and was nowhere to be found.
Additional deputies were immediately called to the scene and the school was placed on lockdown as deputies began a search, inside and out, for the missing student.
During the search, deputies located the student in a classroom across the hall and discovered the gun was actually a bb gun that resembled a real handgun.
The gun was found inside of another student’s backpack, which was in the same classroom as the 16 year-old student. Deputies have since charged both the 16 year-old male student and the 15 year-old male student whose backpack the gun was found in, with possession of a weapon on school property.
Deputies have since learned the 16 year-old who brought the gun had been in a recent argument with another student (who was not at school today) and expressed this being his reason for bringing the gun to school, although deputies did not find that direct verbal threats were made today.
Upon locating the suspects and the BB gun, the school lockdown was lifted and school was allowed to resume as usual.
The 16 year-old suspect was transported to the Greenville County Juvenile Detention Center and the 15 year-old was released to family.