US authorities: School shooter killed father before rampage

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Authorities: School shooter killed father before rampage

By JOHNNY CLARK

 

TOWNVILLE, S.C. (AP) — A teenager killed his father at their home Wednesday before going to a nearby elementary school and opening fire with a handgun, wounding two students and a teacher, authorities said.

 

The teen was apprehended within minutes of the school shooting in this rural town about 110 miles northeast of Atlanta. One of the students was shot in the leg and the other in the foot, Capt. Garland Major with the Anderson County Sheriff's Office said. Both students were male. The female teacher was hit in the shoulder.

 

Before the shooting at Townville Elementary about 1:45 p.m., the teen gunned down his 47-year-old father, Jeffrey Osborne, at their home about 2 miles from the school, authorities said.

 

"We are heartbroken about this senseless act of violence," said Joanne Avery, superintendent of Anderson County School District 4. She canceled classes for the rest of the week.

 

The shooter never entered the school building and was apprehended by firefighter Jamie Brock, a 30-year veteran of the Townville Volunteer Fire Department, according to Anderson County sheriff's Lt. Sheila Cole.

 

Authorities did not reveal the teen's age at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, and Cole says she doesn't have his age. The Anderson Independent-Mail quotes Anderson County Sheriff Chief Deputy Keith Smith as saying the teen is 14 and could be charged as a minor.

 

Authorities did not release a motive for the shooting and said they weren't sure if the students and teacher were targeted.

 

One of the students and the teacher were released from the hospital Wednesday evening, AnMed Health spokeswoman Juana Slade. Greenville News earlier reported that a 6-year-old was airlifted to Greenville Memorial in critical condition. Greenville Memorial spokeswoman Sandy Dees confirmed that a child was taken to the hospital but would not release any further information.

 

Asked about the teen's relationship to the students, Major said "I know they all go to school together." He later said the teen was being homeschooled and didn't clarify his earlier remark.

 

Authorities said they believe there was only one shooter and that all other students at Townville Elementary were safe. The students were bused to a nearby church and reunited with their parents. They hugged and kissed.

 

The school has about 300 students in its pre-kindergarten to sixth-grade classrooms. It is in a very rural part of the state and surrounded by working farms.

 

"This is the country," Brandi Pierce, the mother of a sixth-grader, told The Associated Press as she began to cry. "You don't have this in the country. It just don't exist out here."

 

Jamie Meredith, a student's mother, said some of the children went into a bathroom during the shooting.

 

"I don't know how they knew to go in the bathroom, but I know her teacher was shaken up. I know all the kids were scared. There was a bunch of kids crying. She didn't talk for about 5 minutes when I got her," she told WYFF.

 

Television images 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.

 

Gov. Nikki Haley released a statement shortly after the shooting.

 

"As we work together with law enforcement to make sure they have the support they need to investigate what happened in Townville, Michael and I ask that everyone across South Carolina join us in praying for the entire Townville Elementary School family and those touched by today's tragedy."

 

The rural town is located along Interstate 85 near the Georgia-South Carolina state line.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-09-29

[Aussie69]

No sympathy for US anymore.

[DeaconJohn]

4 hours ago, Aussie69 said:

No sympathy for US anymore.

The US doesn't need sympathy... it needs effective gun laws.

[Aussie69]

The US doesn't need sympathy... it needs effective gun laws.

Exactly

[Grubster]

13 hours ago, Aussie69 said:

No sympathy for US anymore.

I am from the US and I understand what you say, I can say it is really a mess. I know guys that have over one hundred guns and thousands of rounds of ammo. They worship there guns. I had some hunting guns, I sold them and moved here. Thailand has a gun problem too.

[Aussie69]

Look, of course I have sympathy for the victims, plus I love Americans (I lived there for a bit in my teens), but this situation is, as you say, a mess.

Westerners often joke/ridicule thainess - that mind bending, upside down, reverse, Alice-in-Wonderland, yes means no or maybe, same same, illogical way. We mean no harm, it doesnt mean we hate Thais or Thailand, its just that from our upbringing & education it doesnt make sense.

Well I am at that stage with the many shootings, often children, in America. To me the answer is screaming you in the face, the rest of the world is screaming it. It is illogical.

Police shootings, another hot topic, and from my viewpoint (via news) the cops seem to be way too trigger happy. But again why is that, why are police armed like paramilitary units? It's because they have to be super cautious, act first or be dead in the wild west quick draw gun infested society they operate in.

Obviously it's an extremely complex issue and I'm sure there's some pretty smart people working on it. I don't think it's the gun enthusiasts running around shooting people, I think it's more socio-economic and mental health reasons, but end of day, if you simply remove the guns a big factor gets removed.

[ClutchClark]

4 hours ago, Grubster said:

I am from the US and I understand what you say, I can say it is really a mess. I know guys that have over one hundred guns and thousands of rounds of ammo. They worship there guns. I had some hunting guns, I sold them and moved here. Thailand has a gun problem too.

 

100 guns and thousands of rounds of ammo?

 

Did they shoot anybody?

 

Did they shoot up schools?

 

If not then what is the problem ?

[ClutchClark]

The fireman who stopped this kid at risk to his own life very likely saved more victims. 

 

Its terrible the father died but this incident could have been much worse.

 

I wonder why the father did not have this pistol locked up in his house? Along with the ammo?

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

10 hours ago, ClutchClark said:

 

100 guns and thousands of rounds of ammo?

 

Did they shoot anybody?

 

Did they shoot up schools?

 

If not then what is the problem ?

Maybe the problem is the tens of thousands of people that ARE killed by guns every year in the USA???

Probably more than all other developed nations combined.

I come from Canada and we have fairly strict gun laws. I still have 10 hunting rifles at home, legally.

So to all you American fear mongers that think the Gov is coming for your guns!! THEY AREN'T!!! 

They just want reasonable laws to stop every psycho from having them.

[ClutchClark]

1 hour ago, ALLSEEINGEYE said:

Maybe the problem is the tens of thousands of people that ARE killed by guns every year in the USA???

Probably more than all other developed nations combined.

I come from Canada and we have fairly strict gun laws. I still have 10 hunting rifles at home, legally.

So to all you American fear mongers that think the Gov is coming for your guns!! THEY AREN'T!!! 

They just want reasonable laws to stop every psycho from having them.

 

Actually we already have reasonable laws to keep psychos from owning guns. 

 

And some politicians actually do have an agenda of tsking guns away from law-abiding citizens. Case in point, Canada allows long guns like your collection of rifles but not handguns. Since there are millions of handguns in the US then those firearms would need to be removed in order to have a system like Canada. 

 

It is not fear-mongering to point this out. 

 

Much of the problem in the US that is not seen in Canada is the inner-city gang mentality which is glorified in rap and the gangsta culture. Perhaps we could work to eradicate that paradigm which is responsible for so much gun violence. 

 

But taking my guns away is not going to impact that part of society in the least. They are not using my guns to destroy their neighborhoods.

[Grubster]

14 hours ago, ClutchClark said:

 

100 guns and thousands of rounds of ammo?

 

Did they shoot anybody?

 

Did they shoot up schools?

 

If not then what is the problem ?

They are my friends and no they didn't shoot anybody, I'm just stating the fact that many americans are crazy about the issue, And yes many of their children shoot somebody or themselves because these gun nuts think they need a loaded one in their dresser to protect themselves. A good friend of mine pecked on what he thought was his girlfriends window at seventeen years old and her father who owned a gun shop shot a hole in his head threw his bedroom window. Nice huh. Happens a lot more than you think. Ten times more people are killed accidentally by the gun that was there for their protection than an actual intruder. Stick to your guns man.

[ClutchClark]

1 hour ago, Grubster said:

Happens a lot more than you think. Ten times more people are killed accidentally by the gun that was there for their protection than an actual intruder. Stick to your guns man.

 

No argument here.

 

If a household has children then all guns need to be locked up.

 

Plus unlocked guns are more easily stolen.

 

But that is no reason for my gun rights to be curtailed.

[Grubster]

8 minutes ago, ClutchClark said:

 

No argument here.

 

If a household has children then all guns need to be locked up.

 

Plus unlocked guns are more easily stolen.

 

But that is no reason for my gun rights to be curtailed.

I don't want anybody to take anybody's guns. I simply posted that I really do understand these guys from countries that don't have guns, when they say the USA has a big gun problem. We do, but I don't have a clue what we can do about it.

[Aussie69]

 
Actually we already have reasonable laws to keep psychos from owning guns. 
 
And some politicians actually do have an agenda of tsking guns away from law-abiding citizens. Case in point, Canada allows long guns like your collection of rifles but not handguns. Since there are millions of handguns in the US then those firearms would need to be removed in order to have a system like Canada. 
 
It is not fear-mongering to point this out. 
 
Much of the problem in the US that is not seen in Canada is the inner-city gang mentality which is glorified in rap and the gangsta culture. Perhaps we could work to eradicate that paradigm which is responsible for so much gun violence. 
 
But taking my guns away is not going to impact that part of society in the least. They are not using my guns to destroy their neighborhoods.

Ok, i see your point of view, and I too think it is not responsible gunowners creating the isues; but this is a case of the responsible taking the high ground and sacrificing their 'rights'. Okay its not me, but for the sake of the greater good of my country I will sacrifice a little of my entitlements for the greater good. We are talking school children deaths, Inocent cop deaths, saturday mall shopper deaths.

[ClutchClark]

10 hours ago, Aussie69 said:

 

Ok, i see your point of view, and I too think it is not responsible gunowners creating the isues; but this is a case of the responsible taking the high ground and sacrificing their 'rights'. Okay its not me, but for the sake of the greater good of my country I will sacrifice a little of my entitlements for the greater good. We are talking school children deaths, Inocent cop deaths, saturday mall shopper deaths.

 

 

But I actualy believe that my owning guns is for the greater good of the country.

 

I will make you a deal...when I am assured that my firearms are the very last ones left in America and no criminal has any cached away then I will turn my own guns in.