South Carolina Student, 12, Is Fatally Shot by Classmate, Sheriff Says

The authorities are investigating the deadly capturing of a 12-year-old pupil by a classmate at their South Carolina center college on Thursday.

The suspect was one other 12-year-old boy, and his title was not launched. He was arrested on homicide and weapons fees within the capturing, which occurred round midday on Thursday at Tanglewood Center Faculty in Greenville, S.C., the Greenville County Sheriff’s Workplace stated in a press release. There have been no different accidents.

The sufferer, Jamari Cortez Bonaparte-Jackson, was transported to a close-by hospital, the place he was pronounced lifeless shortly after 1 p.m., the Greenville County Coroner’s Workplace stated in a press release. Based on an post-mortem performed on Friday, the reason for loss of life was a gunshot wound to the chest.

It was not clear on Friday what had led to the capturing or the place the scholar had obtained the handgun. The 2 college students had been aware of one another, the authorities stated.

In a press release launched by Combating Injustice Collectively, a group group in Greenville, Jamari’s members of the family stated they had been devastated by the boy’s loss of life.

“We love Jamari dearly and we’d ask that our privateness be revered as we grieve throughout this very troublesome time,” they stated.

The Sheriff’s Workplace didn’t instantly reply to an inquiry on Friday.

Round 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, a faculty useful resource officer known as for backup after listening to gunshots on the college, the Sheriff’s Workplace stated in its assertion.

The authorities stated they later realized {that a} male pupil had shot one other male pupil no less than as soon as inside a wing on the college.

After the assault, sheriff’s deputies found that the shooter had fled. The authorities realized that he was at a residence. Once they arrived, they discovered him “hiding beneath a deck,” in keeping with the assertion. The deputies stated additionally they recovered a handgun.

The scholar was arrested and charged with homicide, possession of a weapon throughout a violent crime, possession of a firearm on college property and illegal possession of a weapon by an individual beneath the age of 18, in keeping with the Sheriff’s Workplace.

He was anticipated to be taken to the Division of Juvenile Justice in Columbia, S.C.

In his workplace’s assertion, Sheriff Hobart Lewis stated, “My coronary heart breaks for this younger boy’s household and my prayers are with them.”

He added, “I will probably be praying for the opposite younger boy who pulled the set off and his household.”

In a separate assertion, W. Burke Royster, the Greenville County Colleges superintendent, stated of the sufferer, “Our ideas and prayers are along with his household, his fellow college students, the workers members on the college and everybody who knew this youngster.”

“That is an absolute tragedy,” he added, “and we are going to proceed to do no matter we will to help his household.”

The varsity was open on Friday however there was no classroom instruction, stated Tim Waller, a district spokesman.

“This is a chance to get collectively as a household and course of,” he stated. Grief and psychological well being counselors had been on the college.

Like different Greenville County colleges, Tanglewood, which serves about 780 college students in grades six by eight, doesn’t have steel detectors.

“We’ve checked out that earlier than, and we will definitely take a look at that once more,” he stated. Mr. Waller added that one of the best defensive device to maintain weapons out of colleges was if college students “see one thing, say one thing.”