GREENWOOD COUNTY (WSPA) – The Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an incident where several fights in the crowd halted a high school jamboree.
According to Greenwood District 50, fights broke out between multiple juveniles from different schools. It happened near the concession stand at Greenwood High School.
Multiple people were injured, and those with major injuries were transported by EMS to Self Regional, the district said.
Multiple arrests were made. The district intends to prosecute and discipline all juveniles involved to the fullest extent of the law and school board policy.
The jamboree was canceled midway through the night.
A father told 7NEWS he took his three children to the jamboree. After the event was canceled, he and his children walked in a large crowd from the field to the parking lot. He said that the crowd grew “chaotic.”
“All of a sudden people just started trampling over us,” the father said. “Everyone was ducking and running. At the time, it felt unreal. It didn’t feel like it was really happening.”
It is unclear why people started running. The sheriff’s office said individuals reported hearing gunshots during the incident, but investigators have not found any evidence that shots were fired.
Dr. Steve Glenn, Greenwood School District 50 Superintendent, released the following statement.
“Greenwood School District 50 will operate on a normal schedule tomorrow, Monday, August 15th. Local law enforcement has questioned multiple individuals that were involved in the incident that occurred at Friday night’s Greenwood High School Jamboree. At this time, there have been no threats made to any of our schools. Most of the individuals who were invovled in Friday night’s altercation have been identified and will be disciplined according to the law and School Board policy. This type of behavior will not be tolerated in our school district. Those who choose to disrupt our schools and functions happening on our campuses will be prosecuted to the fullest extent. As a precaution, we will have additional law enforcement and staff in our schools and around our campuses on Monday morning. Our job as educators is to teach our children. As always, we will continue to work with our school administration and law enforcement to provide a safe learning environment for our students and staff on a daily basis.”
Anyone that witnessed shots being fired or has video evidence should contact the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office.
The school district said additional safety measures will be implemented at future events to prevent further incidents from occurring.