COLUMBIA, S.C. — Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says racist and threatening videos made by a former Cardinal Newman student are shocking, and he says the state should pass a hate crime law to address situations like this.
Lott spoke Thursday afternoon for the first time about the videos that led to the arrest of a 16-year-old male student. That student has since withdrawn from Cardinal Newman.
"As a parent of a 16-year-old is scares the heck out of me to see videos like this," Lott said.
Lott said the teen is charged with making student threats, a new law passed in 2018 by the state legislature that is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Lott says only a 'communication' that showed the student threatening to "shoot up" the school led to the arrest.
Lott would not specify if it was a video, text, or other communication.
Deputies say a 16-year-old male student at Cardinal Newman created videos where he used racist language and shot a box of shoes that he pretended was a black person. The videos were eventually discovered by school administrators in July.
"You look at this video, and this is the definition of what a hate crime is," Lott said.
Lott said they were shown those videos on July 13, but based on the initial videos, there were no charges he could bring at that time.
"There's no state law which would have allowed us to make an arrest on those videos," Lott said.
The student was told by the school on July 15 he was being expelled, but he was allowed to withdraw from the school. On July 17, however, another communication came to light that deputies say showed him threatening to 'shoot up the school.' That same day, he was arrested for making the threat. Sheriff Lott says about 20 guns were also seized from the home.
Because the suspect is a juvenile, Lott said state law prevents him from saying much about the case. But he did confirm that the case is still open. When asked if he was looking into who recorded the videos, or if any adults could be charged, he said "we're still investigating."
"We're going to look at everything," he said.
He said his office has been in contact with both the FBI's joint terrorism task force and the U.S. Attorney's office about the case. But he said there's no South Carolina hate crime law to allow for that charge. South Carolina is one of just four states which doesn't have such a legal prohibition.
"It's an absolute shame that South Carolina doesn't have a hate crime law....something needs to be done," Lott said.
The news of the arrest, however, didn't come to light until August 2. That was also the day Cardinal Newman sent its first letter home to parents. Cardinal Newman's principal has since apologized for the delay after hearing from upset parents.
Lott also addressed why his office didn't disclose the arrest for over two weeks.
"After our arrest, we felt the opportunity for any harm to come to any student at Cardinal Newman or anywhere else had been stopped, and we still fell that way," he said.
Lott said any rumors about the suspect's family connections coming into play are false.
"We never get preferential treatment of anyone and no one has been given preferential treatment to anyone in this case," Lott said.
The Sheriff said he watched the video and found it disturbing.
"Shock and disgusting, I don't think anybody who sees that video, would not be shocked by it and disgusted by it. That's a professional view and it's also a personal view," Lott said after he watched all the videos.
Cardinal Newman school is set to host a forum with parents Thursday night at 7 p.m.