A teenager with a handgun opened fire at an elementary school in South Carolina on Wednesday afternoon, not long before authorities say they found his father shot to death in a home nearby.

Police said the teenage shooter, who they did not identify, shot two male students and a female teacher at Townville Elementary School, located about 40 miles west of Greenville, S.C., before being quickly taken into custody by authorities.

One of the students was shot in the leg and the other in the foot, while the teacher was struck in the shoulder, said Capt. Garland Major of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office. All three were taken to hospitals from the scene, he said during a briefing Wednesday. One of the students was reported to be in critical condition.

Major said that the shooter was taken into custody in a matter of minutes and that authorities believe that there are no other suspects involved.

He emphasized that authorities were in the early hours of the investigation, saying they were still trying to figure out details about where the shooting occurred. The school has no resource officer, the superintendent said Wednesday, but it has security cameras and an airlock system requiring people to be buzzed in.

Major also brought up and dismissed potential motives, saying that authorities did not believe there were any racial factors, noting that the suspected shooter and the three injured people were all white. He also said police did not believe terrorism was a factor.

The burst of violence at locked down Townville Elementary, a school of about 285 students, sending terrified parents hurrying to a local church to pick up their children and causing officials to cancel classes for the rest of the week. The school’s picture day had originally been scheduled for Friday.

“We are heartbroken about this senseless act of violence,” Joanne Avery, the school superintendent, said at the briefing. The school district does training to prepare for active attacks, officials said.

[Experts offer tips for what to do to stay safe during active shootings]

Authorities say they are still working to determine if any of the people injured at the school were targeted or if any of them were connected to the shooter, but said that they had not found any relationships by Wednesday night.

The suspected shooter is home-schooled and not a student in the school district, the sheriff’s office said.

In addition, investigators are also looking into what they called a related homicide after they found the Jeffrey D. Osborne, the teenage attacker’s 47-year-old father, dead at a home about two miles from the school.

Osborne’s family called 911 a short time after the school shooting, and police arrived and found him dead from a gunshot wound, Greg Shore, the Anderson County coroner, said at the same briefing.

Shore said it appeared the man’s son was the shooter who went on to the school, but he did not specifically say if they believe the teenager shot and killed his father first.

Shore said the accused shooter’s grandmother said she received a call at 1:44 p.m. from the teenager. She said he was crying and upset and could not understand what he was saying, so she and the boy’s grandfather went to Osborne’s house, expecting to find their grandson as well. That’s when they found their son dead.

Police went to the school when a teacher called 911 at about 1:45 p.m. to report an armed attacker on school grounds, said Taylor Jones, Anderson County’s emergency services director.

Jones praised the quick response of law enforcement officials, who were able to take the attacker into custody in a matter of minutes and without incident, saying that “lives were saved because of our responders being so well trained.”

A firefighter — later identified as Jamie Brock, a 30-year-veteran of the Townville Volunteer Fire Department — apprehended the shooter, police said.

Gov. Nikki Haley (R) said in a statement Wednesday that as authorities investigate the shooting, she asked people in the state to join her and her husband “in praying for the entire Townville Elementary School family and those touched by today’s tragedy.”

[When even preschoolers must prepare for an active shooter]

Parents were told to pick up their children at a nearby church. When some arrived, they did not know what was going on other than seeing first responders and police around the building.

“I was really scared and thought something bad had happened to my son,” said Kelli Collins of Townville, who has a son in preschool there. “The feeling was pretty indescribable. This is his first year of school. It was very scary, and my heart was pounding.”

Collins said when she eventually got to her son, “I grabbed him and wouldn’t let go.”

Tony Walker, a 32-year-old youth pastor at Gethsemane Baptist Church in Starr, S.C., said he spoke with a mother whose child was on the school’s playground and saw the shooter. Walker said the mother told him that her son said, “‘Mommy, as soon as I saw him, I knew he was a bad guy.'”

The neighboring Oconee County Sheriff’s Office said that at the request of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, it sent deputies to respond to a reported active shooter situation at the school at around 1:44 p.m.

“I have spoken with Sheriff John Skipper in Anderson County and have offered to make available any resources and assistance from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office that he needs as the investigation continues,” Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw said in a statement.

In live video feeds of the scene, a number of police cars and law enforcement officials could be seen gathered around the school.

Townville Elementary School serves about 280 children from preschool through sixth grade, according to state data.

About three-quarters of its students are considered economically disadvantaged, meaning they receive Medicaid, food stamp or welfare benefits, are homeless or migrant students or are in foster care, according to the school’s 2015 state report card.

Justin Campbell in Townville and Emma Brown in Washington contributed to this report.

[This post, first published at 3:05 p.m., has been updated repeatedly.] </s> TOWNVILLE, S.C. — The Latest on the shooting at an elementary school in South Carolina that left two students and a teacher wounded (all times local):

A coroner says that the injuries of two students from a shooting at a South Carolina elementary school do not appear to be life-threatening.

Coroner Greg Shore gave the information to the Greenville News and Independent Mail.

A law enforcement official has said the shooting happened at the Townville Elementary School on Wednesday and that a teen suspect is in custody. He says all other students are safe and have been evacuated to a nearby church.

A law enforcement officer says that a shooting at a South Carolina elementary school has left two students and a teacher wounded.

The unidentified officer says the shooting took place at the Townville Elementary School in Townville, South Carolina, and that all other students are safe and being evacuated to a nearby church. </s> 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, a law enforcement officer said.

Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore told the Anderson Independent Mail that authorities were responding to a death "believed to be related" to the school shooting about 1 ½ miles away.

Shore also said the students do not appear to have life-threatening injuries.

The unidentified officer who spoke to reporters on live television said all other students at the Townville Elementary School were safe following the shooting and that parents are being told to pick up their children at a nearby church.

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.

The school is in a rural area near Lake Hartwell, which is located near Interstate 85 and the Georgia state line. </s> TOWNVILLE, S.C. (AP) — 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.

Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore told the Anderson Independent Mail that authorities were responding to a death "believed to be related" to the school shooting about 1 ½ miles away.

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.

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.

Townville Elementary had about 300 students in its pre-kindergarten to sixth-grade classrooms last year, according to its annual state report card last spring.

The rural town is located about 110 miles northeast of Atlanta along Interstate 85 near the Georgia-South Carolina state line. </s> TOWNVILLE, S.C. — A law enforcement officer says two students and a teacher have been wounded and flown to hospitals after a shooting at a South Carolina elementary school.

Speaking on live television, the unidentified officer said all other students at the Townville Elementary School were safe after the shooting Wednesday and that parents are being told to pick up their children at a nearby church.

The school is located near the Georgia state line.

Check back with Arkansas Online for updates on this developing story. </s> Two students and a teacher have been wounded and flown to hospitals after a shooting at a South Carolina primary school, according to a US law enforcement officer.

Speaking on live television, the unidentified officer said all other students at Townville Elementary School were safe following the shooting.

The officer added that parents are being told to pick up their children at a nearby church.

The school is located near the Georgia state line. </s> Three people were injured in a shooting on a South Carolina elementary school Wednesday.

At approximately 1:44 EST, an unidentified shooter entered Townville Elementary School in Townville, South Carolina.

Two elementary students were injured in the shooting, as well as one teacher. All three were taken immediately from the premises, with one airlifted to the Greenville Health System Emergency Trauma Center by helicopter. Armed officers shuttled the remaining children and faculty to a nearby Baptist church off of Highway 24.

Details of the shooting are still uncertain. The suspect, a local teenager, has been apprehended by state police.

The coroner for Anderson County commented to an NBC affiliate that the shooting may be linked to a murder in a home less than five miles from the school. This has yet to be confirmed.

This story is currently ongoing, and more details will be added as they are released. </s> TOWNVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Authorities: School shooter apparently shot his father to death before rampage; 2 students, teacher wounded . </s> PARKLAND, FL (AP) - The Latest on a shooting at a Florida high school (all times local):

6:05 p.m.

 

A sheriff says 17 people have died in the shooting attack on a South Florida high school.

 

Sheriff Scott Israel of Broward County says the 19-year-old suspect is in custody and that investigators are beginning to "dissect" what happened in the attack Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

 

He says the suspect, a former student, was previously expelled for disciplinary reasons.

 

Israel says the man had at least one rifle and multiple magazines.

 

He says most of the fatalities were inside the building though some were found fatally shot outside.

 

___

 



5:40 p.m.

 

A man says he watched as officers arrested the suspect in the shooting at a Florida high school, where authorities are reporting numerous deaths.

 

Michael Nembhard told The Associated Press he was in his garage watching TV news coverage of the shooting when he heard a police officer repeatedly yelling, "get on the ground!"

 

Nembhard says he looked up to see a teenage boy on the ground about 150 yards (meters) away with an officer pointing a gun at him. The officer stood over the boy until other officers arrived, handcuffed him and led him away.

 

A federal official who spoke on condition of anonymity identified the suspect as Nicolas Cruz. The official says he wasn't authorized to discuss it publicly.

 

Cruz is 19 years old. He had previously attended the high school but was expelled for disciplinary reasons.

 

____

 

5:20 p.m.

 

A federal official has identified the Florida school shooting suspect as Nicolas Cruz.

 

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The official says he had been briefed on the investigation into the shooting at the South Florida high school, but was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

 

Authorities in Florida say the shooter opened fire at the school Wednesday afternoon, killing "numerous" people. The shooting sent frightened students running out into the streets and SWAT team members swarming the building.

 

Authorities later announced that they had taken a former student, about 18 years old, into custody after locating him off the school grounds.

 

___

 

5 p.m.

 

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel says the Florida high school shooting suspect is a former student about 18 years old.

 

He says the suspect was arrested without incident off school grounds in a nearby community. He didn't elaborate on when the suspect had attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parikland.

 

A shooter opened fire at the school Wednesday afternoon, killing "numerous" people, sending students running out into the streets and SWAT team members swarming in before authorities took the shooter into custody.

 

Israel says the FBI has arrived and will begin processing what he describes as "horrific scene."

 

He called it a "catastrophic day."

 

___

 

4:40 p.m.

 

Parents described scenes of chaos as they rushed to find their frightened children after a shooting at a South Florida high school.

 

Caesar Figueroa says he was one of the first parents to arrive at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, seeking his 16-year-old daughter after the shooting there.

 

A shooter opened fire at the school Wednesday, killing several people and sending students running out into the streets as SWAT team members swarming in. Authorities later reported they had taken the shooting suspect into custody.

 

Figueroa says: "It was crazy and my daughter wasn't answering her phone."

 

According to Figueroa, she texted him that she was hidden in a school closet with friends after she heard gunshots.

 

___

4:25 p.m.

 

A school official says there are numerous fatalities from the high school shooting in South Florida.

 

Broward County Superintendent Robert Runcie says "There are numerous fatalities. It is a horrific situation." He added, "It is a horrible day for us."

 

The Broward County Sheriff's Office tweeted Wednesday afternoon that "so far we have at least 14 victims." The tweet added: "Victims have been and continue to be transported to Broward Health Medical Center and Broward Health North hospital."

 

The sheriff's statement didn't elaborate on the victims or their injuries.

 

___

 

4:15 p.m.

 

The White House has canceled its daily press briefing after a Florida high school shooting that sent students rushing into the streets.

 

President Donald Trump has spoken with Florida Gov. Rick Scott about the shooting. He says in a tweet that the White House is "working closely with law enforcement on the terrible Florida school shooting."

 

He earlier tweeted his condolences to the families of the victims.

 

Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump has offered Florida federal assistance, if needed. The homeland security secretary has also been in touch with state and local officials.

 

Sanders says, "We continue to keep the victims, and their friends and family, in our thoughts and prayers."

 

___

 

4:10 p.m.

 

Authorities say the shooter at a South Florida high school is now in custody.

 

The Broward County Sheriff's Office gave no details in briefly tweeting that development. It did not identify the shooting suspect nor say how the person was taken into custody.

 

Television footage showed police putting a person in the back of a police car outside the high school.

 

___

 

4 p.m.

 

Parent John Obin says his son, a freshman at the South Florida high school where the shooting erupted, says his child was in class when he heard several shots. The father says his son advised that teachers quickly rushed students out of the school. He adds the boy told his father that he walked by two people on the ground motionless - and apparently dead - as students rushed outside.

 

"This is a really good school, and now it's like a war zone," Obin said

 

Coral Springs Police said on their Twitter account Wednesday that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was locked down and that students and teachers inside should remain barricaded until police reach them.

 

Outside, televised news footage showed two people on stretchers and another person being treated on the ground at an intersection near the scene of the school. Paramedics were treating those who appeared to be students with injuries, but it wasn't clear how they were hurt. A few students were loaded into ambulances.

 

One unidentified student told a reporter at the scene that at first students thought it was a fire drill because they had heard fire alarms going off.

 

___

 

3:55 p.m.

 

The shooting at a South Florida high school sent students rushing into the streets as SWAT team members swarmed in and locked down the building. Police were warning that the shooter was still at large even as ambulances converged on the scene and emergency workers appeared to be treating those possibly wounded.

 

Aerial television news footage showed police in olive fatigues, with weapons drawn, entering the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Then dozens of students could be seen frantically running and others quickly walking out. A police officer waved the students on, urging them to quickly evacuate the school.

 

Some students exited the building in single-file rows with hands raised overhead to show they carried no weapons. Others held onto other students as they made their way out past helmeted police in camouflage with weapons drawn.

 

Emergency medical personnel pulled stretchers from the backs of ambulances as police cars surrounded the parking lot. At least one person was seen being wheeled to the ambulance on a gurney. It wasn't immediately clear how many people were wounded.

 

__

 

3:45 p.m.

 

Len Murray's 17-year-old son, a junior at the South Florida high school where shooting was reported, sent his parents a chilling text: "Mom and Dad, there have been shots fired on campus at school. There are police sirens outside. I'm in the auditorium and the doors are locked."

 

Those words came at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. A few minutes later, he texted again: "I'm fine."

 

Murray raced to the school only to be stopped by authorities under a highway overpass within view of the school buildings in Parkland.

 

No information was immediately given to parents, Len Murray says. And he says he remained worried for all those inside.

 

"I'm scared for the other parents here. You can see the concern in everybody's faces. Everybody is asking, 'Have you hard from your child yet?'"

 

___

 

3:15 p.m.

 

Authorities say a shooter at a Florida high school is still at large.

 

The Broward Sheriff's Office shared the information on its Twitter account after Wednesday afternoon's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

 

It wasn't immediately clear how many people were wounded.

 

___

 

2:30 p.m.

 

Authorities say they're responding to a shooting at a Florida high school.

 

The Broward Sheriff's Office has told news outlets the shooting occurred Wednesday afternoon at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

 

It wasn't immediately clear how many people were wounded. </s> (CNN) — We’re only 20 weeks into 2018, and there have already been 22 school shootings where someone was hurt or killed. That averages out to more than 1 shooting a week.

The parameters CNN followed in this count are:
• A shooting that involved at least one person being shot (not including the shooter)
• We included accidental discharge of a firearm as long as the first two parameters are met

Someone opened fire at Santa Fe High School, resulting in multiple fatalities, two law enforcement sources told CNN.

A 14-year-old boy went to Highland High, his former school, and began shooting a semiautomatic rifle shortly before classes were scheduled to begin, officials said. A 15-year-old boy was struck in the shoulder.

A 17-year-old student at Forest High School was shot in the ankle shortly before students were to walk out as part of a national protest against gun violence.. The suspect was a 19-year-old former student.

A man was shot in the stomach in the parking lot of Raytown South Middle School during a track meet.

A student shot another student with a BB gun in Gloversville Middle School.

An armed student shot two others at Great Mills High School before a school resource officer fired a round at the shooter. The shooter was killed. One of the students, 16-year-old girl Jaelynn Willey, was taken off life support two days later.

One person was hospitalized after a shooting at an apartment building on the campus of the University of South Alabama.

One student was killed and another critically wounded after an accidental shooting during dismissal time at Huffman High School. Police wouldn’t elaborate further.

A student was shot inside a dormitory at Jackson State University. His injuries were not life-threatening.

Two people were shot to death at a dormitory on the campus of Central Michigan University. The victims were not students and police think the incident stemmed from a domestic situation.

A student at Norfolk State University was shot from an adjacent dorm room while he was doing homework. He was not seriously injured.

A person was shot in a rec center at Mississippi Valley State University. Police said the person was not a student and the injury was not life-threatening.

A person was shot on the campus of Savannah State University and taken to a nearby hospital where he later died. Neither the victim nor the shooter were university students, the college said.

A 19-year-old man gunned down students and staff with a rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, slaughtering at least 17 unsuspecting students and adults. The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, had been expelled from the high school over disciplinary problems, officials said.

A high school student was shot five times in the parking lot of Pearl-Cohn High School.

A high school student was shot in the parking lot of Oxon Hill High. The victim was treated and later released. Police arrested two teens and said they are acquaintances of the victim.

A 15-year-old boy was shot in the head and a 15-year-old girl shot in the wrist at Sal Castro Middle School in Los Angeles, officials said. Two other students were grazed by bullets. A 12-year-old girl was booked for negligent discharge of a firearm in that shooting, which was considered “unintentional,” Los Angeles police said.

A fight led to a shooting in the parking lot of Lincoln High School, fatally wounding a 32-year-old man.

A 15-year-old student shot 16 people — killing two other 15-year-olds — at Marshall County High School, authorities said. The student faces two charges of murder and 12 counts of first degree assault.

A 15-year-old student was wounded in a shooting at a high school in Italy, Texas, authorities said. The suspect, also 15, was quickly apprehended.

A Winston-Salem State University football player, Najee Ali Baker, was shot to death at a party on the campus of Wake Forest University.
A shooting at an elementary school in Townville, South Carolina, leaves two students and a teacher wounded. Police take the teenage suspect into custody. Authorities find the shooter's father dead. One of the students dies two days later.