Volunteer firefighter Jamie Brock was hailed on social media as a hero.
A 14-year-old South Carolina boy killed his father at their home on Wednesday and then drove to an elementary school playground where he wounded two children and a teacher with a handgun and was stopped by a volunteer firefighter who held him for police.
Authorities said that the shooting spree began at the teen’s house about two miles from the school in Townville, where he gunned down his 47-year-old father, Jeffrey Osborne.
At 1.44 pm the teen, who seems crying and upset called his grandmother on phone and the grandparents who couldn’t understand what was going on went to his home just 100 yards away. They found Osborne had been shot and their grandson was gone.
About one minute later, authorities received a 911 call from Townville Elementary School.
Capt. Garland Major with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office told media that the teen was apprehended within minutes of the shooting. One student was shot in the leg and the other in the foot, both students were male.
The female teacher was hit in the shoulder, he added.
“We are heartbroken about this senseless act of violence,†said Joanne Avery, superintendent of Anderson County School District 4. She cancelled classes at the school for the rest of the week.
30-year-old veteran of the Townville Volunteer Fire Department named Jamie Brock was hailed on social media as a hero and credited with preventing another school massacre.
“Firefighter Brock is absolutely a hero,†Associated Press quoted Scott Stoller with Anderson County Emergency Management.
Stoller also added that Mr. Brock “wants to remain humble and quite about it†as he did nothing any of the other volunteer firefighters wouldn’t have done.â€
Images from the scene showed officers swarming the school after the report of an active shooter. Some were on top of the roof while others were walking around the building. Students were driven away on buses accompanied by police officers.
Authorities did not release a motive for the shooting and said they weren’t sure if the students and teacher were targeted. As per reports the teen had been homeschooled and no racial undertones or terrorism involved.
Since 2012, when a gunman shot and killed 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut’s Newtown US schools have taken added security precautions.
2 Comments
I don’t understand why they don’t fix a broken system of poor mental health care combined with too many guns. Why does Everyone in the US need a bunch of weapons??
Why does Hillary need armed body guards?