Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said in a Thursday press conference he will continue to hold parents accountable for their children. The latest parental arrest came just this week. According to deputies, a 6-year-old JP Thomas elementary school student brought a loaded gun onto the school bus Tuesday.
Lott said the gun had "lethal rounds" inside the magazine. The bullets were identified as .300 Blackout ammunition.
Lott told reporters students reported the gun to the school resource officer and it was confiscated without incident. No one was hurt. Deputies later arrested and charged the child's mother, Destar Hall, with unlawful conduct toward a child.
That was just one incident in Richland County schools Tuesday.
The same day, deputies say a student from Richland Northeast high school walked through metal detectors with a loaded gun in his bag. The 16-year-old student was charged with carrying a weapon on school grounds. He was transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
For the third time in two days, another loaded gun would be confiscated at a Richland County school.
On Wednesday, a parent of a student was arrested after deputies said she walked through a metal detector with a loaded gun in her bag.
"My goal is not to lock up parents," Lott said. "My goal is for parents to be parents."
Despite the incidents, Lott emphasized the safety and wellbeing of the 58,000 students within Richland County's school districts.
