2 juveniles plead guilty in Rock Hill SC schools gun cases. Defense cites area gangs
Two juveniles charged with having guns at Rock Hill schools on successive days in August have pleaded guilty in South Carolina Family Court.
The two boys, ages 14 and 16, could face punishment as severe as juvenile prison through age 21, a judge ruled Tuesday in York County Family Court.
Testimony Tuesday showed both defendants brought loaded pistols to school, motivated by alleged gang violence concerns, and both already had gun convictions in South Carolina juvenile courts.
The 16-year-old was a student at South Pointe High School on Aug. 29 when a loaded handgun was found in his backpack, testimony showed.
The 14-year-old was a student at Dutchman Creek Middle School on Aug. 30 when he pointed a gun at another student during a bathroom fight, 16th Circuit Senior Assistant Solicitor Whitney Payne said in court.
The two are among three students who were charged after guns were found on three consecutive days respectively at South Pointe and Rock Hill high schools, and Dutchman Creek Middle School. All three schools are in the Rock Hill school district.
No shots were fired and no one was hurt, officials said.
Judge rules both legally delinquent
Visiting Family Court Debra Matthews of the 6th Judicial Circuit in Fairfield County accepted both sets of guilty pleas in hearings Tuesday in York County court. Matthews ruled each was “adjudicated delinquent” under the law.
Matthews ruled both juveniles remain kept in the custody of the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice Columbia jail for children pending evaluations and sentencing. Both had been taken into custody after their arrests in August.
No sentencing date has been set.
The Herald is not naming either juvenile because of their ages.
Family members for both children were in court but did not speak.
The South Pointe case
Payne, the prosecutor, said in court on Aug. 29, a Rock Hill Police Department school resource officer found a handgun in the 16-year-old student’s backpack. The officer had noticed the student’s behavior at lunch and the gun was found after a search.
The gun was loaded, Payne said.
The student pushed an officer and ran from police before he was caught outside the school.
That teenager pleaded guilty to four weapons charges that include carrying a gun on school grounds and possession of a handgun by someone under age 18, and resisting police, testimony showed.
Payne asked Matthews for the 16-year-old to remain jailed pending sentencing because the teen had a previous gun conviction in Family Court from 2021.
The 16-year-old had been released from juvenile custody in June, Payne said.
The 16-year-old told Matthews in court he had been getting good grades in school before the incident.
The teen’s lawyer, York County Assistant Public Defender Stacey Coleman, said in court another teen gave the juvenile the gun. The 16-year-old supposedly obtained the gun to protect himself from what Coleman said was violent gangs in the Rock Hill area, Coleman said in court.
Coleman said in court the teen had been threatened because he was friends with other teens who were involved in fatal shootings earlier this year in Rock Hill.
“He made a horrible choice to bring (the gun) on school property,” Coleman told Matthews.
The Dutchman Creek case
On Aug. 30, the day after the South Pointe gun was found, the 14-year-old was charged at Dutchman Creek Middle School, Payne said.
“There were shouts of ‘Someone’s got a gun!” in the school hallway,” Payne said.
The 14-year-old had gone in a bathroom to fight another student when the gun fell out of his pants, Payne said in court. The 14-year-old then pointed the handgun equipped with a laser sight at another student, Payne said.
Rock Hill police later found the loaded gun in the bathroom in a toilet paper dispenser, Payne said.
It remains unclear how the 14-year-old obtained the weapon.
The 14-year-old was on probation from a previous juvenile conviction for a gun from Charleston County, Payne said in court.
The 14-year-old pleaded guilty Tuesday to three weapons charges that included a weapon on school grounds, as well as violation of probation, Testimony showed.
The 14-year-old pleaded no contest to a charge of pointing and presenting a firearm, testimony showed.
A no contest plea is where a defendant does not challenge the facts of a charge and the charge is treated as a guilty conviction for sentencing, Payne said after the hearing.
The 14-year-old’s lawyer, Arthur Hays of the public defender’s office, said in court the fight in the bathroom on Aug. 30 was not initiated by his client. The 14-year-old was a new student in the school, Hays said in court.
In a previous court hearing on Sept. 6, a defense lawyer for the 14-year-old said the 14-year-old had the gun because of alleged threats involving older people and gang activity.
The third case from Rock Hill High
On Aug. 31, a student at Rock Hill High School had a gun in a vehicle in the parking lot, York County Sheriff’ Office deputies said. That student, age 16, ran from campus and was charged two days later with two weapon violations, said Trent Faris, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
The student in the Rock Hill High incident was released to the custody of his parents after being charged, Faris said.
The case involving the student and gun at Rock Hill High was not involved in Tuesday’s court hearings and remains pending. It remains unclear when that 16-year-old will appear in Family Court.
Public concern over guns at school and safety
The court hearings Tuesday came a day after Rock Hill schools officials, law enforcement and prosecutors held a community forum about school safety and gun violence. The forum held Monday was scheduled after the three weapon incidents.
Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett, York County’s top prosecutor, said in that forum Monday his office will take every gun charge at school seriously for potential prosecution.
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 1:24 PM with the headline "2 juveniles plead guilty in Rock Hill SC schools gun cases. Defense cites area gangs."
