Folly Beach Police prepares for potential large gatherings Thursday

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCBD) – Folly Beach Police are preparing for the potential of a large gathering on the beach Thursday. Officers want to make sure everyone stays safe, especially after a shooting on Isle of Palms last week.

Folly Beach Public Safety officials say they received word of a social media post going around inviting people out to a party on Thursday.

Last Friday’s gathering on the Isle of Palms, which led to five people being shot, was the result of a “Senior Skip Day” flyer circulating on social media. Now, another flyer has surfaced promoting a “Spring Break Beach Party” on April 13, at Folly Beach.

“Large groups gathering is always a recipe for something happening,” Folly Beach Public Safety Director Andrew Gilreath said, “whether it be fights or whatever the case may be.”

Gilreath says they’ve already been in communication with local, state and federal agencies about Thursday’s potential gathering.

“Kind of coordinate assets and ask for assistance,” he said, “especially us smaller agencies that generally need to, from time to time, rely on the assistance of outside agencies just due to their size.”

And although they may ask for assistance, Gilreath says his force has the resources necessary to stop any activity that may cause an unsafe environment on their beach.

“Almost every single one of our vehicles is all-wheel drive and has the capability of being on the beach,” he said. “We also have ATVs, we have boats, we have what they call UTVs.”

Businesses in the area are preparing as well. The Tides Hotel will have increased security Thursday, which they say is to prevent anyone underage from wandering into the hotel’s bar.

Despite the preventative measures, some frequent visitors plan to avoid the area altogether.

“Just to be on the safe side,” Lori Davis, who is visiting Folly Beach said. “I mean, if I would have showed up at Isle of Palms on Friday and saw that many young people, I probably wouldn’t have stayed. I would have just felt like something bad is going to happen and I don’t want to be here.”

Others say the situation is being overinflated.

“I tend to think tomorrow’s going to be fun,” Jessica Merkle said. “Whatever gathering that’s happening is going to be fun and everybody’s going to enjoy themselves, and the rest is just hyped up. There’s no need to project the past events onto the future.”

Gilreath says they will break up any gatherings larger than 25 people because any amount over that number requires a permit.