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A 14-year-old boy shot and killed his father then drove to an elementary school in South Carolina and opened fire with a handgun, wounding two children and a teacher.
The teen was apprehended within minutes as he was stopped by a longtime volunteer firefighter, authorities said.
One of the students was shot in the leg and the other in the foot, Captain Garland Major with the Anderson County sheriff’s office said. Both students were male. The female teacher was hit in the shoulder.
According to reports, before the shooting at Townville Elementary school, the teenager gunned down his father, Jeffrey Osbourne, at their home.
Officials said the teen called his grandmother from his father’s house crying on the phone on Wednesday.
He did not tell her what was wrong or what happened, before the call ended. She went to her son’s house and found him inside dead with a gunshot wound, as the teen had already left the home.
A student was quoted as saying that she saw the shooter jump a fence and fire several rounds into the air while yelling ‘I hate my life! I hate my life! I hate my life!’
“We are heartbroken about this senseless act of violence,” said Joanne Avery, superintendent of Anderson County School District 4. She cancelled classes for the rest of the week.
Governor 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.”