Knife, gun found days apart at middle school

Authorities say two Carolina Springs Middle School students were caught with weapons on school grounds in the same week, a frequency that Superintendent Keith Price called “concerning.”

School administrators found a kitchen knife in a girl’s backpack on Tuesday, Aug. 25 and secured a loaded handgun found in a boy’s backpack Thursday, Aug. 27, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies say the two cases are unrelated.

“No students were harmed in either case,” Sheriff Jay Koon said in a statement posted to the LCSD’s Facebook page.

Deputies charged both students with carrying a weapon on school property. The boy accused in the handgun case also faces an unlawful gun possession charge.

“Both were released to the custody of their parents and will appear in family court at a later date,” said Koon. “Their names will not be released because they are under the age of 18.”

Lexington School District One Superintendent Keith Price acknowledged the incidents in a district safety update sent through school Web portal ParentSquare on Friday, Aug. 28.

“We know that two weapons incidents at one school in the same week are concerning,” Price wrote. “They may also cause students, employees and families across Lexington One to have questions about school safety and how we respond when a concern is reported or discovered.

“Most importantly, all students and employees are safe. We also recognize that anytime a weapon is brought onto a school campus, it can take an emotional toll on students, employees and families.”

Price shared information on the district’s response to safety issues and issued a call for students to “tell an adult when something does not seem right.”

“School safety is a shared responsibility,” Price said in the ParentSquare message. “Thank you to our students who report concerns, our employees who respond, our law enforcement partners who support our schools and our families who continue these important conversations at home.”