South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster has been placed under state police protection after authorities learned of a threat made against his life, the head of the state police told The Associated Press on Thursday.
"It's a threat that came in that we're treating seriously," said State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd. "We consider it a threat on his life."
Lloyd said the prosecutor has been under guard since earlier this week. Mark Plowden, a spokesman for the attorney general, said McMaster has been accompanied by SLED agents since Tuesday.
Lloyd declined to give details of the threat, which he said came in a one-page note retrieved from a drop box at a bank in the Charleston area. The note did not mention specific times or locations that McMaster might be in danger, Lloyd said.
McMaster, one of four candidates seeking the GOP nomination for governor, was in the Charleston area earlier this week, meeting with former county Republican Party chairmen on Wednesday.