Update: Beaufort High cleared after ‘shots fired’ hoax Wednesday; no injuries reported

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Emergency responders are at Beaufort High School Wednesday morning after getting calls of possible shots fired, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

As of 11:10 a.m., the school was “rendered clear,” according to an alert from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

No gunshot victims or signs of a shooter were found.

“Everybody is safe,” said City of Beaufort Police Chief Dale McDorman.

The school was on lockdown since at least 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning after police were called “for the report of shots fired,” according to a news release from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

The call, McDorman said, was a “hoax.”

Over 70 officers from local police departments; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; FBI; and state troopers responded to the school, according to a statement from City of Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray.

School will be dismissed early once the lockdown has been lifted, according to a statement from the school district. Buses will be arriving early to drive students home, and students who drive to school will be released at the same time. Parents who want to pick up their children may do so at the school’s football stadium.

Town of Port Royal councilman Jerry Ashmore, who has a son and grandson enrolled at the school, felt parents’ anxieties Wednesday.

“You’re thinking the worst, especially in today’s world,” he said.

Parents bowed their heads during a prayer led by mother Talicia Pate-Brown outside the school Wednesday morning while waiting for official word that things were safe from police.

“We don’t know what this generation is becoming, Father God, but it takes ... everybody to help our children,” she said.

Officers were in the process of clearing the school as of 10 a.m., according to Bluffton Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Ryan Fazekas.

No students or teachers were reported to be injured.

A spokesperson for the school district was not immediately available for comment.

Students were on lockdown in their classrooms while police went room-to-room clearing the school, according to Erin Ashley Greene, the sister of a student at Beaufort High.

Topaz Williams-Fripp, a 17-year-old senior from Beaufort, was in a first-floor classroom when somebody came over the intercom, saying, “This is not a drill. It’s a mandatory lockdown.”

Blinds on the windows were shut and the lights were turned off in the classroom. A few minutes later, Williams-Fripp said, she heard rumbling upstairs from chairs being moved and thrown against doors. Then law enforcement officers burst into the room and told the students to put their hands up and turn around in a circle.

“I started to cry at that point,” Williams-Fripp said.

As of 10:24 a.m. police were unable to confirm whether or not there was an active shooter on campus or if the call was a hoax, according to Maj. Angela Viens, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.

Parents waited outside school

Dozens of parents were waiting at the entrance of the school and receiving updates from Capt. Andre Massey from the Port Royal Police Department.

“We don’t know if it’s real or if it’s fake ... we’re going to clear this building from top to bottom,” he said.

Schools in Beaufort and Lady’s Island were under a modified lockdown, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

As of 10:40 a.m., half of the school was evacuated and students were being patted down, according to Massey. Police had no updates about whether there was a shooter or the call was a hoax.

As of 11:05 a.m., crowds outside the school became unruly. Shoving broke out between two men. One man suggested the parents go into the school to check for themselves.

“Tensions are high, but it does not benefit no one if we go out there and we act in mayhem,” Massey shouted in an attempt to calm the crowds.

Once parents began reuniting with their children around 1 p.m., many were seen pulling them in for a hug.

Williams-Fripp, walked away from the High School arm-in-arm with her mother, Ivory Williams, with Father Earnest Fripp at their side.

““It was just scary,” Williams-Fripp said. “We looked out through the blinds and saw nothing but cops outside.”

Other threats statewide

The incident comes in the middle of what appears to be a statewide hoax, as schools across South Carolina report similar false alarms.

During a Wednesday afternoon press conference at the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, officials said 22 schools, including Beaufort High School, received similar threats.

Around 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, officers with the Charleston Police Department responded to a “possible emergency situation” at Burke High School at 244 President St. in Charleston, according to the department’s Twitter.

“A call was received from another location regarding a possible active shooter at the school,” the tweet about Charleston said.

Burke High School was locked down, which is normal procedure. No one was injured, the department reported, and no suspects had been located.

“The call appears to have been a hoax,” CPD said.

Sgt. Bonifacio Perez from Bluffton Police Department said officials also received reports from several other jurisdictions of “similar threats” in Greenville, Myrtle Beach and Blythewood.

Robert Anderson Middle School in Anderson received a 911 call about an active shooter around 10:45 a.m. Wednesday morning that also was deemed false, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

Conway High School also received a hoax call, according to the Conway Police Department.

Although Bluffton schools have not received any threats, police personnel likely would be present in the area, Perez said.