Driving School in Blythewood, SC

A substitute teacher at Blythewood High School was arrested after a firearm was detected in his bag during a security screening, deputies say.

BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. — A substitute teacher at Blythewood High School was arrested Monday after bringing a firearm onto school property, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff Leon Lott said Justin Fox, 37, was taken into custody March 9, 2026, after a weapon was discovered during a security screening at the school.

According to the sheriff’s department, around 9 a.m. school officials were alerted by a metal detector that there was a firearm in Fox’s bag.

School Resource Officers were notified and responded to the metal detector area to secure the weapon.

Deputies said officers detained Fox and confirmed that he is the legal owner of the firearm.

Investigators said Fox reportedly forgot the gun was in his bag.

Fox was charged with carrying a weapon on school property.

In a letter sharded with Blythewood High School parents and staff, Richland School District Two said:

Good Day, Bengals Families,I want to inform you about an incident on our campus today. During a routine safety screening, a loaded firearm was discovered in the backpack of a guest teacher. The situation was handled swiftly and appropriately—our School Resource Officer and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department were immediately notified, and the guest teacher was immediately taken into custody and arrested.I want to reassure you that at no point was anyone threatened or in danger. Students remained unaware of the situation as it unfolded. This incident highlights the importance and effectiveness of our safety measures, including continuous safety screenings, which worked exactly as intended to identify and address a potential concern before it could pose any risk.Transparency is a core value at our school, and we felt it was important to share this information with you. The safety and well-being of our students and faculty remain our top priority, and we are taking every measure to ensure our campus remains a safe environment for learning.If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.Thank you for your trust and support as we continue to prioritize the safety of our school community.

COLUMBIA — Electric vehicle maker Scout Motors plans to open up applications in the coming weeks for its first round of assembly line workers at its South Carolina plant.

The Volkswagen subsidiary is on schedule to roll its first round of test vehicles off the line by the end of the year, and it’s looking for the employees needed to put those first Scouts together, CEO Scott Keogh said Tuesday.

“These will be actual operators on the (assembly) line,” said Clarice Henderson, who heads up Scout’s human resources team.

The automaker will bring these employees on board gradually throughout 2026. It expects to end the year with anywhere between 200 and 400 initial floor workers on staff, Henderson added.

This next hiring round will come on top of 76 factory workers who have already signed on with Scout over the past six months.

Those earlier hires are the people who will set up and keep the factory’s vast array of machinery and robotics operational as the company speeds toward its goal of shipping the first Scout vehicles to customers in 2027. The jobs pay between $30 and $37.50 an hour, depending on the worker’s experience.

Scout picked those first workers from a pool of 600 applicants, Henderson said. Nearly all of those applicants live in South Carolina, she said, rather than people moving in from outside the state for work.

Unlike those earlier hires, which sought applicants with at least three years of prior manufacturing work experience, Henderson said the upcoming hiring round is open to people who have never worked in a factory before. Scout has yet to publicize the salary range for these jobs.

Scout will train incoming workers on the job. Those hired will spend their first two weeks going through general training on company policies and benefits. After that, the employees will branch off into training specific to where in the factory they’re working, Henderson.

Those interested can apply online at the Scout Motors website, where they will be screened by Ready SC, an offshoot of the state technical college system that runs employee training programs for new companies opening up shop in South Carolina.

Once operating at full capacity — sometime in 2030 or 2031 — the $2 billion assembly plant will employ 4,000 workers and produce 200,000 vehicles annually.

That will include a mix of fully electric and hybrid-like models the carmaker announced in October 2024 that it would offer.

Meanwhile, more than 150,000 people have signed up to buy the first Scout vehicles when they come out next year.

Construction also is underway on the Scout campus for three buildings that will house a number of suppliers on site, including a contractor that will assemble the batteries that will go into Scout’s vehicles and a company that will make customized parts, such as off-road bumpers and bike racks.

Keogh estimates on-site suppliers will employ an additional 1,000 workers at the Blythewood campus.