HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — Many people who thought they were attending Carolina Forest High School graduation on Wednesday, were denied access to watch their loved ones graduate.

ABC15 talked with family and friends who were turned away at the entrance because they were told they came after 7 p.m. However, Lys Davison, a parent of a graduating senior, claims that guests were turned away even before the cutoff time.

I was at the gate at 6:56, unbeknownst to anybody they had decided that they were going to close the gates early,” Davison said. “That wasn’t told to anybody. I was in traffic for an hour.

Videos sent to us by viewers show dozens of parents screaming and crying as police and staff withhold them from entering.

We were begging and pleading with them to just let our kids see our faces. They look for us in the crowd on moments like this,” Davison said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, you know, that you can’t get back. And to have to watch it through a fence, and being threatened to be arrested, is completely unacceptable.

Davison said that seniors were given five tickets for family and other guests to attend, but said officials told them they were not allowed into the stadium because it was a fire hazard.

I understand if you don’t want everybody and their mother in, but nobody was flooding in. We were all, it was just a group of us. One guy jumped the fence, they tried to arrest him so he jumped back over the fence,” she said. “I am super disappointed. You took away something from me that I waited 18 years for and all you had to do was just let us in.

ABC15 reached out to Horry County Schools spokesperson Lisa Bourcier about the incident to which she sent the following statement:

Carolina Forest High School had almost 4,000 individuals in attendance this evening at the high school’s football stadium for graduation. This included students, parents, and staff. As with all of our high school graduations and based on the venue in which they are held, safety procedures and guidelines are provided well in-advance to students and parents. Contracted security and local law enforcement attend the ceremonies to assist with crowd control and decorum.

Carolina Forest High School sent multiple notifications to students and parents regarding tonight’s guidelines and procedures, which included that guests will not be allowed into the stadium after 7 p.m. once the ceremony begins.