While teachers were gearing up for the impending school year at West Marion Primary Thursday morning, an elderly white male entered the school with what looked like a handgun and started firing shots. No one was injured in the unprovoked attack, and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the weapon to be an air soft gun after the suspect was taken into custody.
Marion County Sheriff Berkley Hall said the personnel at the school believed it to be a real gun initially, and the initial dispatch call relayed an active gunman. The threat was neutralized by a member of the staff.
The suspect has not yet been identified. He was loaded onto a stretcher and taken to the hospital for treatment and has not been booked into jail yet.
Hall said all of the West Marion Primary staff did exactly what they were trained to do.
“They went in, barricaded and turned off lights. We had some that we had to go in and get out of closets because they wouldn’t come out,” Hall said.
The sheriff’s office and the Columbia Police Department went room to room once the suspect was apprehended and cleared the school of all threats. They were assisted by both Marion County constables, Robbie Gill and Krae Morgan; an agent with the state auditor's office and Marion County School District police.
Homeland Security is now on scene.
There were no students at the school at the time of the attack. Students begin their school year on Monday.
