Gun in kid’s bookbag at SC school had clip of ammo, bullet in chamber
A South Carolina judge set bail at $35,000 on Friday for an Indian Land man a police report says admitted to leaving a loaded gun in a Spider-Man bookbag found in a 5-year-old boy’s kindergarten classroom.
Alexander Storm Savarese, 29, is charged with unlawful conduct toward a child by leaving the pistol and a knife in the bag, according to court statements and an arrest warrant obtained by The Herald.
Harrisburg Elementary School is located in a fast-growing area of northern Lancaster County near Fort Mill, Pineville, N.C., and the Ballantyne area of Charlotte.
Savarese appeared in Lancaster County court Friday via videoconference from the Lancaster County jail after being arrested Thursday. The Herald was the only media organization at the court hearing.
He did not have a lawyer either in court or at the jail. It is unclear if he will apply for a public defender, hire a private lawyer, or handle his own defense. A conviction for the felony charge carries up to 10 years in prison under South Carolina law.
Savarese did not speak about the case to Lancaster County Chief Magistrate Curtisha Ingram other than to say he has lived in Indian Land for about 10 years after living previously near Greenville and in Matthews, N.C.
Ingram set bail and told Savarese he must comply with “any and all” conditions the S.C. Department of Social Services might set, come to court as required and “keep the peace” as the case moves forward.
Officials have declined to give a specific relationship between Savarese and the child. The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office incident report released to The Herald had a section blacked out, and the relationship was not mentioned in court Friday.
6th Circuit Solicitor Randy Newman, Lancaster County’s top prosecutor, said Friday after court that while he can’t discuss the specific case yet, “My office takes the safety of our schools very seriously.”
Gun found Wednesday in kindergarten classroom
Officials found the Sig Sauer pistol with a clip of ammunition in it and a bullet in the chamber in the bookbag Wednesday when the child was getting ready to leave school, the police report shows. No one was hurt.
The child was crying to a school resource officer when he said he didn’t know the weapons were in the bag, the police report stated.
At the school later Wednesday, Savarese admitted leaving the knife in the bag and told deputies he left the gun in there too after a hike in the woods the day before, according to the incident report.
Sheriff Barry Faile said in statements released to the public and on social media that there should be accountability for the danger to students and staff that “created a very real risk to the child and everybody else at Harrisburg Elementary.”
