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    21 Juveniles Charged With Making School Threats in South Carolina

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    The charges are part of a sprawling investigation into more than 60 threats targeting schools in 23 counties since a mass shooting on Sept. 4 in Georgia in which four people were killed at a high school.Nearly two dozen juveniles have been charged in connection with online threats made against schools in South Carolina since early September, the authorities said on Tuesday.The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said in a news release that 21 people had been charged for making what it called “extremely serious” threats targeting schools. Many of the threats were shared on social media, the agency said.“School threats are not a joke,” Chief Mark Keel of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said in a statement. “Law enforcement takes every threat seriously, and everyone needs to understand that there are serious consequences.”According to the news release, the charges are part of a sprawling investigation into more than 60 threats targeting schools in 23 counties since Sept. 4, when the authorities say a 14-year-old gunman fatally shot two students and two teachers at his high school in Georgia.Threats of mass violence have proliferated on social media since the Georgia shooting and have left law enforcement officials, who traditionally have been limited in their response to threats of possible violence, feeling exasperated. In Central California, several teens have been arrested in connection with threats. In Broward County, Fla., where 17 people were killed at a high school in Parkland in 2018, officials said last week that they had arrested nine students since August in connection with threats of violence.And in an unusual step, Sheriff Mike Chitwood of Volusia County, Fla., this week posted pictures and videos of an 11-year-old who was charged in a fake school shooting threat, part of a pledge to take a tough stance on the wave of threats.The police in South Carolina have worked to secure schools “and find those responsible,” the agency said in the news release. The agency’s behavioral science unit, which provides psychological profiling and threat assessments, has been called in to assist with six school threat investigations stretched across different counties.Details about the threats, the charges and the identities and ages of those arrested in South Carolina were not immediately available. Renée Wunderlich, a spokeswoman for the agency, said additional information was not available.WCNC-TV, an NBC affiliate station in Charlotte, reported that the threats included an alleged shooting threat at Lancaster High School in Lancaster, S.C., on Sept. 11. WMBF-TV, another NBC affiliate station, reported that Horry County Schools, in the southeastern part of the state, was the subject of rumored threats that circulated on social media. More

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      Sean Kingston Arrested on Fraud and Theft Charges After Raid at His Home

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      Mr. Kingston, a singer and rapper, best known for his 2007 hit single “Beautiful Girls,” was taken into custody on Thursday. His mother was also arrested.The singer and rapper Sean Kingston was arrested in California on Thursday, hours after a SWAT team raided his home in Broward County, Fla., and took his mother into custody, the authorities said.Mr. Kingston, 34, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and his mother, Janice Turner, 61, both face “numerous fraud and theft charges,” the Broward County Sheriff’s office said in a statement.Search and arrest warrants were served at Mr. Kingston’s home in Southwest Ranches, Fla., on Thursday.Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel, via Associated PressMr. Kingston was still in his teens when his debut single, “Beautiful Girls,” spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2007. He has since collaborated with Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and Wyclef Jean, but he has kept a lower profile in recent years.Mr. Kingston, who was arrested in Fort Irwin, Calif., and his mother could not be reached for comment and it was not immediately clear if they had lawyers. Mr. Kingston’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear on Friday if he and Ms. Turner were still in custody.“People love negative energy!” Mr. Kingston posted on Instagram before his arrest. “I am good and so is my mother!..my lawyers are handling everything as we speak.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Girl Dies After Digging Hole at Florida Beach, Authorities Say

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      The 7-year-old was on vacation with her family from Indiana when she and her brother became trapped in the sand at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, the authorities said.The girl was playing with her brother when the hole they were digging collapsed, trapping the two in the sand.Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel, via Associated PressA 7-year-old girl died on Tuesday after the hole she was digging with her brother at a Florida beach collapsed, burying the pair in sand, the authorities said — one of a few instances in which such an episode turns deadly each year in the United States.The girl, Sloan Mattingly, was on vacation with her family from Indiana in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, a coastal town about 30 miles north of Miami, and was playing in the sand with her 9-year-old brother, Maddox, when they became stuck on Tuesday afternoon, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.In a 911 call released by the Sheriff’s Office, beachgoers can be heard screaming as a breathless woman, who describes herself as a registered nurse, tells the operator that “there’s a little girl buried in the sand.” The girl’s father had yelled for help, and people were trying to dig her out, the woman says. She says she could not see any part of the girl’s body. “Mom’s yelling, ‘My daughter’s in there,’” she says.Footage appeared to show other beachgoers crowded around the sand hole, trying to dig out the girl before rescuers arrived. Other 911 callers sounded distressed as they described the frantic scene.Sandra King, a spokeswoman for Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, said that rescuers had been called to the beach at around 3:15 p.m. and had found several adults frantically trying to dig the two children from the hole, which was about four to five feet deep by four to five feet wide. The boy was buried up to his chest, and the girl was underneath the sand completely, she said. Rescuers secured the edges of the hole to prevent it from collapsing further and managed to extract them both.Rescuers tried to resuscitate the girl, who had no pulse, as they took her to a hospital, where, the sheriff’s office said, she was later pronounced dead. The boy was uninjured, Ms. King said. “The scene was very, very traumatic, and the parents were absolutely hysterical, understandably,” she said. “They’re there to enjoy a day at the beach and this horrible tragedy occurs.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More