Officers say McLaurin Elementary school, students face no threat

An adult and two children walk out of McLaurin Elementary School as they pass a Florence County Sheriff’s Office vehicle on Tuesday in Florence. The school was put on lockdown Tuesday after a parent reported seeing a man with a gun in the woods nearby. Both deputies and Florence police responded and set up a secure perimeter. It was later discovered the man had been hunting and stepped out of the woods for a moment.

By: From staff reports | SCNOW
Published: November 24, 2009

FLORENCE – The threat to students at Florence’s McLaurin Elementary School has passed and the school is dismissing students.

The declaration came after the school spent time first locked down and then surrounded by a secure perimeter after a parent reported a man with a rifle in the woods across from the school.

Florence Police and Florence County Sheriff’s deputies search areas around the school for the man.

"Florence County Sheriff's Deputies and Florence City Officers responded to the area around McLaurin Elementry School to a report of an armed subject. Sheriff's Investigators along with a K-9 tracking team we able to locate the subject. Upon interviewing the subject it was discovered that he was hunting in the area and had stepped out on the road for a moment. There was no danger to the school or neighborhoods nearby," Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone wrote on his Facebook page.

“The individual with the pellet rifle was unaware that his actions had caused the school to be locked down. No charges are expected to be filed,” according to a press release posted later to Facebook.

The school is located between National Cemetery Road and US 301 south of Florence Regional Airport.

The initial call came in about 11:30 a.m., Capt. Mike Nunn with the Florence County Sheriff’s Office said.

A parent dropping a child off saw what she described as a black man with jean jacket on holding a gun near the woods line across from the school, Nunn said.

The man moved on into the woods and out of her sight, Nunn said.

The school is in Florence city limits, but the area surrounding it is in the county.