TikTok challenge led to hoax shooting calls at Blythewood High, other SC schools, cops say

A report of an active shooter on the campus of Blythewood High School was a hoax, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Wednesday.

A TikTok challenge led to phony calls about shots being fired at Blythewood High and many more schools across South Carolina, according to Lott.

“It was completely a hoax, nobody injured, no shots fired,” Lott said at a news conference.

While the reports of gunfire at Blythewood High were determined to be fake, the emotions and fear that students, their parents, teachers, faculty, and staff and others in the community are experiencing are very real, according to the sheriff.

“Students and parents are suffering because somebody made a false call,” Lott said.

At about 10:25 a.m. Wednesday, the sheriff’s department got a call from an unknown person who identified themselves as being at Blythewood High and saying that someone had been shot, according to Lott. The caller identified a specific classroom where the shots were fired. The number on the caller ID showed the call was “spooked” to make it look like it was coming from Blythewood High, but the sheriff said that was part of a scheme he described as “sophisticated, but not sophisticated.”

The school was placed on lockdown as students and staff followed emergency procedures and evacuated as about 150 law enforcement officers responded to Blythewood High, said Lott, who lauded the response of everyone involved.

“In a very short time we were in control of the school, searching the school making sure that there was not anybody with a gun there,” Lott said. “We saw how we would respond if we ever did have an active shooter in one of our schools ... Had it been a real shooting today, I think we would have encountered that person very quickly.”

Lott said the response included two school resource officers at the scene as well as the responding deputies who covered the back and sides of the school building before teams of officers entered the school to clear the classrooms and hallway.

“This is something I worry about all the time as superintendent,” Richland 2 Superintendent Dr. Baron Davis said at the news conference. “I was thankful to God that nobody was injured and that it was a hoax. ... I’m heartbroken. I’m not only the superintendent of the school, I’m a parent in the school district and a spouse (to someone) who works at Blythewood High School. I’m heartbroken people continue to take this as a joke and continue to put our students and our employees in harms way.”

Counselors will be available to students when they return to school, Davis said

The Blythewood High campus on Wilson Boulevard was placed on lockdown while law enforcement searched the building, and the sheriff’s department determined the call was one of many hoax calls made to South Carolina schools Wednesday morning, Richland 2 spokeswoman Ishmael Tate said in a news release.

“There is no evidence of any gunfire or injuries at the school,” Tate said.

The sheriff’s department asked people to avoid the area, which was congested after the law enforcement officer response.

Parents of Blythewood High students were able to reunite with their children, according to the sheriff’s department. After initially setting up a reunification center about a mile away from campus at the nearby IGA supermarket on Blythewood Road, the sheriff’s department changed course and said students would be released to parents from the stadium at Blythewood High.

“Please have your (identification) and be patient as traffic will be heavy. Any parents at IGA will be redirected,” the sheriff’s department said.

Similar incidents also happened Wednesday at schools across the state.

At about 11:05 a.m., Newberry Middle School received notification of an active shooter on campus, the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office said. While law enforcement was responding, the on site SRO and staff immediately determined this was a hoax, according to the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office.

The school was placed on lockdown as a precaution, and Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said the call was part of the statewide and national hoaxes.

Richland 1 told parents of its students none of its schools had been targeted with the fake calls, but the district was operating on modified lockdown status as a precaution. That meant movement continued inside the buildings, but there were no outside activities held.

Similarly, LR5 told parents it was ready to respond to any threats, saying its “utmost priority remains student and staff safety.”

“Unfortunately, what we saw at Blythewood High School was not the only school this is happening at today,” Lott said. “It’s a TikTok challenge that went out and people are doing it. ... If we can identify who they are, then they are going to be arrested. It’s not just a Richland County issue.”

Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann said if an arrest is made, he supports prosecuting the person to the fullest extent of the law.

Charleston police said officers responded to a report of an active shooter at Burke High School, but that incident was confirmed to be a hoax. No one was injured in the incident in the Lowcountry.

At about the same time as the incidents at Blythewood and Burke, there was another report of shots fired at Beaufort High School, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. No injuries have been reported in that incident.

The Bluffton Police Department said officials also received reports from several other jurisdictions of “similar threats” in Greenville and Myrtle Beach, the Island Packet of Hilton Head reported.

The Myrtle Beach Police Department and Horry County Schools said there were more hoaxes after receiving false reports of school shootings at Myrtle Beach High School, Conway High School, and Myrtle Beach Middle School, the Sun News of Myrtle Beach reported.

Horry County schools spokesperson Lisa Bourcier told the Sun News that the district fell victim to what is believed to be “swatting calls,” which are prank calls made to emergency services in an attempt to bring about a large number of first responders.

Greenville Police said they received an anonymous tip that there might be an active threat at Greenville High School. Officers responded and quickly determined that the tip was fake, according to the Greenville County school district.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office reported a similar incident at South Middle School in Lancaster. No shooting happened on campus, no injuries were reported, and no weapons were found after the school was placed on lockdown, and the sheriff’s office believes the incident was another hoax.

Lott said the FBI is assisting in the investigation and anyone who is charged with a crime related to the hoax could face federal charges. Columbia Police Department officers and South Carolina Highway Patrol troopers also responded to the scene.

“To see that (these hoaxes) happen simultaneously across our state, and probably other parts of the country because of a TikTok challenge, we have to take some action,” Davis said. “We need some sort of laws or legislation or something in place that will prevent, or there are some consequences behind actions like this.”

The hoax trend has the attention of the FBI, which issued a statement from its Columbia office Wednesday afternoon acknowledging similar “swatting” incidents happening “recently across the country.”

“The FBI takes swatting very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk,” agency spokesman Kevin Wheeler said in an emailed statement. “While we have no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention. We urge the public to remain vigilant, and report any and all suspicious activity and/or individuals to law enforcement immediately.”

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has said that they they are “evaluating the credibility of these threats.”

“While at this time the threats are believed to be a hoax, SLED encourages each jurisdiction to take any and all threats seriously,” SLED said in a statement.