A Greenville SC School Shooting Leaves a 12-Year-Old Student Dead

A 12-year-old student was killed and a classmate was arrested in a shooting at a Greenville middle school Thursday. Authorities did not identify the victim or the shooter, but family liaisons with News 13 said the death was ruled a homicide.

Jamari Cortez Bonaparte Jackson died at a hospital after being shot at Tanglewood Middle School in Greenville, the county coroner said Friday. The boy was shot in the chest and pronounced dead around 1 p.m. According to the sheriff’s office, Jackson’s classmates were locked down in the school as police searched for the suspect.

The incident marks the 43rd reported shooting at a South Carolina school since 1974, according to a national database of school violence. It’s also the latest in a string of incidents that have left children and teachers injured in recent years.

Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis says that the suspect, whom authorities have not identified, was found hiding at a home near the school just after the incident. He was armed, but no other people were hurt in the shooting.

Helicopter footage from WYFF-TV showed dozens of officers walking outside the school with buses lined up to take students to nearby churches. Schools Superintendent Burke Royster said he doesn’t know what caused the shooting or how the suspect got a gun at the school, but commended teachers for isolating students and following lockdown procedures.

Another shooting has left a woman dead in Greenville on Saturday, and investigators say it was a road rage incident that led to the shooting. The victim was a passenger in a vehicle when she was shot and killed, according to the sheriff’s office. The driver of the other car, who is not being identified, was not injured in the shooting, authorities say.

A man who sent threats and photos of a gun to his ex-girlfriend was shot and killed by deputies Wednesday in the third deadly police shooting in four days, authorities said. The man had a gun and tried to attack the deputies as they tried to arrest him, Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said at a news conference.

Earlier this year, a man in North Carolina was arrested after he mailed a letter and photos of a gun to his ex-girlfriend. He was found armed when deputies searched his home, and he fired several shots as they approached him, authorities said.

The case could set a dangerous precedent for other young students, authorities say. It could also help convince students that they are not safe on their own campus.

In September 1988, James William Wilson killed two 8-year-olds and wounded a teacher at Oakland Elementary School in Greenwood. The 19-year-old suspect said he was trying to kill himself.

The latest shooting at Tanglewood Middle School in Greenville is the fourth school shooting this year, and the 43rd school shooting at a South Carolina school since 1974, a national database of school violence shows. There have been 43 different types of school shootings in the state since 1974, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database maintained by the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security.