South Carolina Shooter, Jesse Osborne, Called Grandparents Before Shooting, Taken Down By Firefighter [Updated]

South Carolina shooter, Jesse Osborne, allegedly called his grandparents before opening fire at an elementary school on Wednesday. CNN reports that Osborne, 14, injured two male kindergarten students and a female teacher Wednesday afternoon in the shooting that took place at Townville Elementary School in Townville, South Carolina, but not before calling his grandparents’ cellphone. According to the new CNN report on Thursday, Jesse Osborne was in tears and “mumbling unintelligibly” during the phone call that took place one minute prior to the school shooting. People Magazine also reports that a volunteer firefighter took down Osborne and held him at bay before authorities arrived.

Jamie Brock is now being “hailed as a hero” for stopping Jesse Osborne as the South Carolina teen continued to shoot just outside Townville Elementary School. The Inquisitr reported on Wednesday that the shooting occurred on the school’s playground and that Jesse Osborne had been “tentatively identified” as the shooter. Brock, a 30-year veteran with the Townville Volunteer Fire Department, “took down” Osborne and is “absolutely a hero,” according to both Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper and Scott Stoller with Anderson County Emergency Management.

Jamie Brock Is The Hero Who Stopped The Townville School Shooter https://t.co/8jhw9gA0YE via @bluelivesmtr

— Ava- I Love My USA! ?? (@WEdwarda) September 29, 2016

The Associated Press notes that Brock, described as a “big fellow” by Sheriff Skipper, confronted and stopped Jesse Osborne before he could enter the rural South Carolina elementary school on Wednesday afternoon, around 1:45 p.m. Brock was reportedly just down the road from the school at the fire station and arrived at Townville Elementary before armed officers were able to respond to the 911 dispatch. Brock reportedly doesn’t want any attention for taking down Jesse Osborne after a teacher called 911 to report a shooting on the playground, located just behind the elementary school.

“He wants to remain humble and quiet about it because he believes he did nothing any of the other volunteer firefighters wouldn’t have done.”

Since Jesse Osborne is only a teen, Brock allegedly used just enough force to take him to the ground and restrain him while waiting for police to arrive. Just after the South Carolina school shooting, WYFF reported that Osborne opened fire on the playground with a handgun and managed to shoot first grade teacher Meghan Hollingsworth in the shoulder, one 6-year-old student in the foot, and another 6-year-old student in the leg. Jacob Hall, who was airlifted to Greenville Memorial Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina, was listed in critical condition Wednesday afternoon after undergoing surgery.

https://twitter.com/ImNillz/status/781342215956205568

Fox News shared an update on Hall that was posted Thursday morning around 8 a.m. to a GoFundMe page that was set up by a friend of Jacob’s family to help cover the cost of his treatment.

“Just wanted to give an update. Over the night, there have been no changes in his condition. He is due to have surgery on his other main artery as soon as he’s stable enough to do so. Thank y’all so very much for all your donations and continue to spread the word and most importantly, PRAY for this little boy. I will continue to keep this open as long as ppl will donate because he has a long road to recovery.”

Jesse Osborne is in custody and being held at the Greenville County Detention Center Juvenile Facility, according to Sheriff John Skipper. Skipper went on to say in an ABC News report that Osborne allegedly drove a truck into the Townville Elementary School parking lot, located 110 miles northeast of Atlanta, and immediately opened fire as he walked toward the school. Undisclosed is how many shots Osborne fired before he was halted and who exactly the truck was registered to.

Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore also said that Jesse Osborne allegedly called his grandparents around 1:44 p.m., exactly one minute before a teacher called 911 to report the shooting. According to Osborne’s grandparents, the teen was “crying and upset” when they took the phone call from him Wednesday afternoon.

“The grandparents couldn’t understand what was going on, so they went to his home just 100 yards away.”

Jesse Osborne lived only two miles from Townville Elementary School, located at 105 State Road in Townville, South Carolina, in Anderson County. When Osborne’s grandparents arrived at his home, they found their son, 47-year-old Jeffrey Osborne, dead from a gunshot wound. Townville sheriff’s Capt. Garland Major declined to say what charges Jesse Osborne will face and what kind of gun was used. Capt. Major did say that the South Carolina school shooting was not racially motivated and was not terrorism.

https://twitter.com/redcardinalva/status/781273702482714624

An exact motive is not yet known in the Townville Elementary School shooting, but, according to witnesses, Jesse Osborne allegedly shouted, “I hate my life!” after jumping a fence just outside the elementary school. Some reports also say that the homeschooled teen had recently been given a gun and smoke grenades by his mother, Tiffney Clarke Osborne, as shared by Tiffney on her personal Facebook profile, which has since been deleted.

Parents of students at Townville Elementary School say that the shooting Wednesday afternoon by Jesse Osborne was the scariest moment of their lives, and they never thought something like that would happen in the small, rural community of Townville, South Carolina, that has a population of not even 4,000 residents.

One resident, Nely Ramirez, told People Magazine that parents were hugging their kids and “crying, crying, crying.”

“I never thought this would happen here. We’re going to hug our families tight tonight.”

Update: The Daily Mail reports that Jesse Osborne had been expelled from public school for allegedly taking a machete and a hatchet into a class at West Oak Middle School. Osborne alleged he had been bullied at school, possibly because of his small stature. Parents, Jeffrey and Tiffney, had been homeschooling Jesse since the last school year. Jeffrey Osborne was also reportedly a convicted criminal with drug and domestic violence convictions. Shooting victim Jacob Hall is reportedly still on life support in ICU and “died twice” while in transport and in surgery.

[Featured Image by Rainier Ehrhardt/AP Images]