‘Hoping for a miracle’
Boy, 14, charged in father’s killing, school shooting
A 14-year-old South Carolina boy was charged as a juvenile Friday with murder and three counts of attempted murder after authorities say he killed his father and opened fire on students at a school playground, wounding three people.
The boy did not show any emotion as he walked into the courtroom wearing a yellow jumpsuit. He was unrestrained, not wearing handcuffs or leg shackles, as required by state law in most juvenile cases.
His lawyer, Frank Epps, noted that the teen has given a statement to law enforcement and asked that investigators not question him again without his lawyer present. The judge agreed to that, and ordered the teen to be held in jail.
The boy’s mother sat on the front row during the brief hearing and left the courtroom sobbing and leaning on another woman.
The Associated Press typically does not identify juveniles charged with crimes and therefore is not identifying his family members.
Authorities say the teen shot his 47-year-old father at their home on Wednesday afternoon before driving a pickup truck three miles down a country road to Townville Elementary. The teen – who is not old enough to have a driver’s licence – had to make only two turns to arrive at the red brick school, where he crashed the truck, got out and started firing during recess.
Bullets struck two students, critically injuring one of them, and a first-grade teacher. The building was immediately placed on lock down.
Authorities have not released a motive for the killing or the school shooting. They have said the boy was being homeschooled, but have not explained why.
Relatives of one of the wounded, six-year-old Jacob Hall, said he remained on life support in a hospital. His family issued a statement late Thursday saying the boy sustained a major brain injury due to the amount of blood he lost after being shot in the leg. His older brother, Gerald Gambrell, told The Greenville News that the family is “hoping for a miracle.”