Deputies in Anderson County said that a suspect was taken into custody after a shooting at Townville Elementary.
The Greenville News reported that two students and a teacher were injured in the incident.
A man was also found dead, just a few miles from the school. Officials reported that he was dead before the incident, but his death is directly related to the shooting at the school.
A mother spoke to WYFF Local news after she was reunited with her daughter.
“I just pray for those families. I pray for those kids,” she said. “I thank God it wasn’t mine, but I feel so bad for them and I’m just going to pray that they’re OK and I don’t know if they’re my daughter’s classmates or they’re somebody I knew. I don’t know. Just feel so bad.”
They evacuated the students to a local church to be safely picked up.
Lt. Sheila Cole with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office said deputies had received reports of a possible shooting before 2 p.m. EST. Cole said injuries were reported but had no confirmation of how many.
Townville Elementary has 286 students between pre-k through sixth grade. Investigations are still ongoing.
US Mass Shootings
According to massshootingtracker.org, this is the 362nd mass shooting in the United States this year.
Sadly this isn’t the first incident of a shooting at an elementary school in the last few years. Among thousands of shootings that happened over the last five years, we all remember the Sandy Hook Massacre. 20 children and 6 adults lost their lives to gunman Adam Lanza in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary.
Aside from shootings at elementary schools, The US has had other horrific shootings. Orlando saw the worst mass shooting in modern history this year. 29-year-old Omar Mateen killed 50 people and injured 53 at a popular night club.
After over 300 mass shootings just this year, we as a nation need to reflect on what our solution is going to be, especially with it being election time. We can no longer sit back and let this happen to our children any longer.
