Official: 2 students, 1 teacher wounded in school shooting

TOWNVILLE, S.C. >> A teenager opened fire at a South Carolina elementary school Wednesday, wounding two students and a teacher before the suspect was taken into custody, authorities said.

Investigators also responded to a death “believed to be related” to the school shooting at a home nearby, Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore told the Anderson Independent Mail. Shore said the students do not appear to have life-threatening injuries.

Anderson County emergency services director Taylor Jones told reporters that all other students at the Townville Elementary School were safe following the shooting. The students were bused to a nearby church and reunited with their parents. They hugged and kissed one another.

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. Some were on top of the roof while others were walking around the building. Students were driven away on buses accompanied by police officers.

All of the roads to the school have been blocked off. The school is in a very rural part of the state and surrounded by working farms.

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.”

RAINIER EHRHARDT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Lilly Chapman, 8, cries after being reunited with her father, John Chapman at Oakdale Baptist Church on Wednesday in Townville, S.C. Students were evacuated to the church following a shooting at Townville Elementary School. A teenager opened fire at a...

RAINIER EHRHARDT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Joey Taylor walks with his daughter Josie Taylor after picking her up at Oakdale Baptist Church on Wednesday in Townville, S.C. Students were evacuated to the church following a shooting at Townville Elementary School. A teenager opened fire at the...