Richland 1 superintendent reacts to students being killed in 2 shootings in past week
In a four-day stretch, two teenagers were killed in separate shootings in the Columbia area.
Both teens were students at Richland 1 School District high schools.
On Thursday, Richland 1 Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon reacted to the deaths of De’Marion Corbett and Desmond Wilson.
“For the second time in less than a week, we are mourning the loss of one of our students. De’Marion Corbett, a junior at Columbia High School, was killed (Wednesday). Desmond Wilson, a junior at Lower Richland High School, was killed over the weekend,” Witherspoon said in a news release.
Corbett was one of three teenagers hit by gunfire at at the Riverside Apartments, according to the Columbia Police Department. The 16-year-old Columbia resident died at the scene, while two other teenagers, ages 17 and 18, were injured in the shooting at an apartment complex on Lucius Road and were taken to an area hospital, police said.
Further information on the conditions of the other teenagers was not available, but police said both are students at area high schools.
On Sunday, Wilson’s body was discovered on the ground of an apartment building’s breezeway in the 8100 block of Garners Ferry Road. Wilson, 17, died at the scene, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
“Once again, young lives have been tragically cut short by gun violence and we find ourselves asking why and searching for answers not just as a school district, but as a community,” Witherspoon said.
There was no word on a shooter, or shooters, or a motive for the gunfire in either of the incidents.
No arrests have been reported in either of the deaths.
Richland 1 has made its crisis team available to provide support and counseling to students and staff at both Columbia High and Lower Richland High, according to Witherspoon.
“We ask everyone to keep those school communities and the families of the two students in your thoughts and prayers,” Witherspoon said.
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