The two juveniles who recently called in threats to local schools went before Family Court Judge Salley McIntyre recently.
The first threat was called into Dillon High School on March 16, 2022. In that case, the school received a call from someone saying they were going “to shoot up the school”. Pursuant to policy, the school was immediately placed on lockdown, and the Dillon Police Department and SLED began its investigation. The investigation uncovered that the caller was a 14-year-old student at the school. (The juvenile will remain unnamed in this article.)
Once identified, the juvenile was detained at a Department of Juvenile Justice facility in Columbia until the hearing last week. At that hearing, the juvenile admitted his guilt, was released from confinement and was ordered to undergo an evaluation (a normal practice in juvenile court). Upon completion of the evaluation, the juvenile will return to court for final disposition of the case.
The second threat was called into Dillon Middle School on March 21, 2022. In that case, a caller phoned the school two times in a row, saying both times “y’all gonna die”. As a result and pursuant to policy, the school (and the adjacent high school) were locked down. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the school and swept the school for dangerous devices. None were found.
The investigation identified a 13-year-old student of Dillon Middle School as the caller. That student was detained at a Department of Juvenile Justice facility in Columbia until the hearing last week. At that hearing, the juvenile admitted his guilt, was released from confinement and was ordered to undergo an evaluation. Upon completion of the evaluation, the juvenile will return to court for final disposition of the case.
During both hearings, Judge McIntyre spoke of the enormous impact calls like this have on students, school staff, parents of students and the orderly operation of schools. Assistant Solicitor Shipp Daniel, who prosecuted these cases, talked about the significant law enforcement response that these calls require. He asked the Court to order the juveniles to pay restitution to the Dillon Police Department for its efforts in investigating the threats. Upon receiving the figures from law enforcement, Judge McIntyre ordered restitution of $2000 in the first case and $1400 in the second. At the conclusion of both hearings, Judge McIntyre addressed the juveniles and said that their poor judgment in these situations did not define them, and that they hopefully would learn from these situations and make positive decisions going forward.