Karlos Gibson, the 20-year-old Columbia man already facing charges in the 2023 shooting deaths of three Eau Claire High School students, was arrested again this week after investigators say they found two modified guns inside a home on Van Heist Street — one of them tucked inside his 10-month-old child's crib. Gibson was out on bond and wearing a GPS ankle monitor tied to the homicide case at the time of the new arrest.
According to KABB, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said deputies executed a search warrant around 7 a.m. at the residence in the 1700 block of Van Heist Street. Investigators found the two firearms inside the child's bedroom — one inside the crib and another inside a closet — and determined both had been modified in a manner consistent with Glock switch installation, according to the sheriff's department. A Glock switch was also found among Gibson's belongings, the report noted.
Machine Gun and Child Neglect Charges Filed
Gibson was booked on possession of a machine gun, which carried a $2,500 surety bond, and unlawful conduct toward a child, which carried a $1,000 personal recognizance bond, the outlet reported. He was then taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
A Prior Triple Homicide Case Already Pending
Gibson's arrest adds a new chapter to a case that has shadowed him since he was 17. In September 2023, he was arrested along with 17-year-old Jahkeem Griffin and an unnamed 14-year-old in the fatal shooting of three Eau Claire High School students, according to Post and Courier. The victims were 16-year-old Jakobe Fanning, 16-year-old Caleb Wise and 17-year-old Dre'Von Riley, and a fourth student was wounded in the attack.
Sheriff Lott said at the time that the shooting, which happened outside an abandoned house on Saddletrail Road, stemmed from an escalating feud rooted in a burglary that had occurred two years earlier, according to MEAWW. Gibson was previously charged in connection with that homicide.
How a GPS Monitor Missed the Guns
Gibson's ankle monitor was a condition of his bond in the homicide case, meaning his movements were required to be tracked around the clock. Under South Carolina Code § 17-15-35, GPS devices ordered as bond conditions must record a defendant's location at all times, according to the South Carolina Legislature. That system tracks a person's location.
State lawmakers passed the 2023 Bond Reform Act specifically to address repeat violent offenses committed while free on bond. Under the resulting South Carolina Code § 17-15-270, committing a subsequent violent crime while released on bond for a prior violent crime is treated as a separate felony, per the same legislation. The offense is punishable by imprisonment of not more than five years, with concurrent or consecutive sentencing permitted.
Glock Switches Carry Separate Federal Exposure
Beyond the state penalties, the machine gun charge could expose Gibson to federal liability. Under federal law, possessing a Glock switch — a small auto-sear device that converts a semiautomatic pistol into a fully automatic weapon — is federally punishable, carrying federal penalties of up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines per unregistered device, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The same office has noted that law enforcement agencies recovered more than 5,000 such conversion devices nationwide between 2017 and 2021, a 570% jump from the previous four-year stretch.
Federal prosecutions involving Glock switches have occurred elsewhere, but the available material does not establish an increasing South Carolina pattern. Last month, federal prosecutors sentenced a Columbia man to 16 years in federal prison after he committed an armed robbery with a Glock switch-equipped handgun while wearing a GPS monitor tied to a pending murder charge. Richland County has seen this pattern before — in July 2024, deputies arrested an 18-year-old on arson and illegal firearm charges involving a Glock switch while executing a warrant alongside a co-defendant who was free on a $125,000 bond for a 2023 double murder, according to WLTX. Whether prosecutors will seek to revoke Gibson's bond in the 2023 homicide case, or whether federal authorities will bring their own charges as they have in similar Richland County cases, remains unclear.
The Jail Now Holding Gibson Faces Its Own Scrutiny
The detention center now holding Gibson is the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. In June, Sheriff Lott announced the arrest of the jail's compliance director and more than 20 employees and inmates after investigators uncovered 62 unreported crimes and widespread contraband inside the detention center, according to Post and Courier.
