TOWNVILLE, S.C. — When two volunteer firefighters rolled up to an elementary school shooting, they said they found only a wrecked black pickup truck at the playground. There was no gunman, and no one inside the truck.
Within minutes, though, they performed actions that led to them being hailed as heroes throughout their tight-knit South Carolina hometown: One went inside to help treat the wounded and the other searched for the shooter.
“This was more than just another call to us. This incident occurred in the school where our children and the children of the community attend,” Townville Fire Chief Billy McAdams said Thursday during a news conference, pausing to collect himself as he recalled the harrowing events of the day before.
Authorities say the teen shot his father at their home before driving the pickup 3 miles down a country road lined with chicken houses and pine trees to Townville Elementary School. He only had to make two turns to arrive at the red brick school, where he crashed the truck, got out and fired at a door as it was being opened for recess, authorities said.
Bullets struck two students and a first-grade teacher, and the building was immediately placed on lock down.
Anderson 4 Superintendent Joanne Avery said staff saved lives by flawlessly implementing active-shooter training drills conducted with students over the past few years — at Townville Elementary, most recently just last week. All six schools in the rural district went through annual drills in August, but a nearby carjacking prompted Townville officials to do it again, she said.
All district administrators trained just Monday on a new crisis response app put on their cellphones, which included an active-shooter scenario.
Though shot in the shoulder, the teacher “was with-it enough” to close the door, lock it and barricade the students, Avery said.
“If he’d gotten in the school, it would’ve been a different scenario,” she said.
The shooter then fired toward students on the playground but missed. A teacher who heard the first gunshot was able to get those students safely inside, Avery said.
The school’s staff “put their fear to the side because they put those children first,” she said.
One of the wounded, 6-year-old Jacob Hall, remained in critical condition Thursday and was said to be fighting for his life. A sign outside a diner conveyed the sentiments of an entire community: “Pray for Jacob. Pray for Townville.”
The teacher who was shot in the shoulder and another student who was hit in the foot were treated and released from a hospital, officials said. The teen was arrested minutes after the shooting and a Family Court hearing was set for Friday to determine if he should remain in jail or be released.
Classes are scheduled to resume at the school Monday, but second-grader Mattie LeCroy doesn’t want to go. Asked whether she was scared to return to school, the blond-haired 7-year-old simply nodded her head “yes” after dropping off flowers for Jacob with her mom at the town’s fire station.
The violence was a punch in the gut to people around Townville, where residents say some families have lived on the same land since before the Civil War. Outside a church where workers offered counseling and other aid to residents, both U.S. and Confederate flags decorate graves in the burial yard.
“It’s just a shock. Why in the world would that boy do that?” said Douglas Ayers, who lives on the road linking the Osborne home and the school.
Authorities said they don’t yet know a motive for the shooting and they were not sure if the students and teacher were targeted or shot randomly.
Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper said the teen had been homeschooled, but the reason isn’t clear. Avery said the teen attended Townville Elementary through fifth grade then transferred to a school in neighboring Oconee County.