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. 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.
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.