A Sandhills Community College (SCC) student was arrested Monday after allegedly threatening a faculty member.
Students, faculty and staff evacuated the Pinehurst and Raeford campuses and the public safety training center just before 12:30 p.m., and classes were canceled for the rest of the day.
“Out of an abundance of caution, Sandhills Community College is suspending all in-person activities including classes immediately,” said SCC on its Facebook page regarding the alleged verbal threat. “Due to a threat, please evacuate all Sandhills locations until further notice.”
About an hour later, the suspect was located.
“Please be aware that the individual related to the threat has been located off campus by authorities,” said SCC at 1:30 p.m. on Facebook. “Once the active investigation is completed by local law enforcement, more information will be forthcoming. All buildings will remain closed today.”
The suspect was arrested after an investigation.
“On April 17, 2023, the Moore County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a threat of mass violence made by a student to a faculty member at Larry R. Caddell Public Safety Training Center in Carthage,” said Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields in a press release just after 4:30 p.m. about the investigation and arrest.
Caleb Moore, 22, of Taylortown, was arrested and jailed at the Moore County Detention Center without bond. He is facing charges of one count of felony communicating a threat of mass violence on educational property and one count of felony possession of a firearm on educational property.
“Sandhills Community College will resume normal operations on all campuses on Tuesday, April 18, 2023,” said the school. “Although no immediate threat exists on campus, out of an abundance of caution, there will be increased security presence at all college locations this week.”
In the past, Moore was a probationary member of West End Fire and Rescue. The fire department announced on its Facebook page that Moore was released last fall due to violations of department policies and has not been involved with the fire department since then. They also said the department does background checks on all members. The fire department said it was “deeply saddened and concerned about the events earlier today.”
Moore is due in court on Wednesday and is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
~Written by Sandhills Sentinel staff.
