Teen to be tried as adult for shooting students at Midlands high school, prosecutor says
A teenager arrested for shooting three students outside Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School last year will stand trial as an adult, the 1st Circuit Solicitor’s Office said Wednesday.
Judge Anne Gue Jones ruled the now 15 year old will be treated as an adult on his three counts of attempted murder, the solicitor’s office said in a news release. The Family Court judge made the ruling about a week after a hearing was held on the issue in Orangeburg, according to the release.
Three students were shot on Aug. 18 in the school parking lot shortly after school got out that day. The shooting was gang related, involving rivals from the Bloods and Folk Nation, according to the release.
The solicitor’s office has not released the name of the accused gunman, who was 14 when the shooting happened.
If convicted, the maximum punishment for each attempted murder charge is 30 years in prison without parole, according to South Carolina law.
The students who were shot did not suffer life-threatening injuries, according to the school. Further information on their conditions was not available.
“Today is far from being a great day in South Carolina,” Solicitor David Pascoe said in the release. “True justice is not done when it is necessary to waive a 14 year old. Today is another wake up call for our state. Every society gets the criminal it deserves. And in South Carolina, we have 14 year olds shooting at each other, children going to gang meetings instead of school, and repeat offenders out on bond. If we do not get more community involvement, better criminal laws, and major judicial reform soon, the violent crime problem will continue to get worse.”
Shootings at schools, malls and other public places have been an increasing problem in South Carolina.
On April 16, nine people were shot and six were injured in other ways in a running gun battle between three people in the hallways crowded with shoppers at Columbiana Centre shopping mall, in Columbia. The three men have been arrested and face various charges including attempted murder.
That same day, nine people were shot and injured at Cara’s Lounge in Furman, a small down in Hampton County. No arrests have been reported in that case.
On April 17, the body of 17-year-old Desmond Wilson was discovered on the ground of an apartment building’s breezeway in the 8100 block of Garners Ferry Road. Wilson had been shot and died at the scene, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
On April 20, 16-year-old Columbia High School student De’Marion Corbett was killed and two other teens suffered gunshot wounds in a shooting at the Riverside apartment complex on Lucius Road, according to the Columbia Police Department.
On March 31, a 12-year-old boy shot and killed another 12 year old at Tanglewood Middle School in Greenville. The deceased, Jamari Cortez Bonaparte Jackson, died of a single gunshot wound to the chest an hour later, according to the Greenville County Coroner’s office.
In another deadly shooting Sunday, Cayce Police Officer Roy Andrew “Drew” Barr was shot and killed responding to a domestic violence call.
Staff reporter John Monk contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 27, 2022 at 12:01 PM.
