Police: Students arrested after classmate heard them talk about wanting to blow up school

Two James Island Charter High School students are in juvenile detention today after a classmate heard them talk about wanting to blow up the school on Friday, police said.

The 14-year-old male and female students, who are not being identified, were charged with conspiracy to commit a felony.

A student in the teenager’s class overheard the pair talking about wanting to blow the school up and the classmate told his or her parent, who called the school’s main office, police said.

On Monday the school’s principal told the school resource officer about the message from the parent regarding the conversation and school officials identified the students and removed them from the school. They transported them to police headquarters in downtown Charleston where they were interviewed, according to police.

The school was evacuated and all scheduled afternoon programs were cancelled. The explosive device and K-9 units for the police department and the Charleston County bomb squad searched the school and did not find a bomb, according to Charleston Police Department spokesman Charles Francis.

Search warrants did not turn up any devices or bomb making materials at the suspected students’ homes, he stated in a release. Police confiscated their computers and cell phones and the investigation continues.