On February 14, 2024, the City of Dillon Police Department and City of Dillon Fire Department was dispatched to Dillon High School located at 1730 Highway 301 North within the city limits of Dillon in reference to a bomb threat.
On scene, officers were able to speak with school officials and office staff who took the call. It was determined that a male subject called into the main office and made a threat towards the school. Law enforcement officers
and firefighters immediately divided up into teams to perform a search of the interior and exterior of the school. Law enforcement nor firefighters located any suspicious devices at this time. An officer with the Florence Regional Airport Public Safety also responded with a bomb detection K-9 who performed a secondary search of the school which did not locate anything suspicious.
Investigators immediately contacted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and began tracking the phone number and using other available resources to find the person responsible for making the threat. After and extensive, multi-agency investigation investigators were able to identify a suspect.
On April 25, 2024, Elijah Bleu McDonald, age 23 was arrested by Hemingway Police Department in Hemingway, South Carolina. Mr. McDonald was charged with Bomb / threat, conspire to threat, solicits another to threat real or personal property, pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. 16-23-0720(D). Mr. McDonald was transported to the Dillon County Detention Center where he went before a Magistrate Judge and received a $10,000 surety bond on the charge.
The Dillon Police Department would like to thank the following agencies for their assistance during the investigation. The City of Dillon Fire Department, Dillon County Sheriff’s Office, Latta Police Department, SLED, Florence Regional Airport Public Safety and the Hemingway Police Department.
