RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — Authorities with Richland County School District One confirm that multiple students from Keenan High School were among several wounded in a Saturday morning shooting.
A spokesperson for the district said that the event was not in any way associated with the school district or any of its schools. However, authorities did confirm that three Keenan High School students were wounded by gunfire at Meadowlake Park off Wilson Boulevard.
One student is a 12th-grade girl and the other two are 11th-grade boys - one of whom is a student-athlete. A 12th-grade girl from C.A. Johnson was also hurt after being struck by a vehicle at the location.
Superintendent Craig Witherspoon released a statement on Saturday evening that said:
“We are saddened and concerned about the shooting incident that occurred early-Saturday morning (April 29, 2023) at Meadowlake Park in which four Richland One high school students were injured. Our prayers go out to the students who were injured. While the event where the shooting took place was not a school-related or district-related function, we are cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation and we encourage anyone with information about the incident to share it with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. As a precaution, we will have additional security on campus at W.J. Keenan and C.A. Johnson high schools next week.”
In all, at least nine people were wounded by gunfire during a gathering at the park.
Deputies were first called to the location around 1:20 a.m. due to the gathering but found only a handful of the people involved still there - one of them hit by a vehicle.
Later information from dispatch revealed that victims ranging from 16 to 20 years old had arrived at area hospitals with gunshot wounds.
Deputies also found multiple shell casings from different guns at the scene.
The sheriff's department is now urging anyone with information about the case to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC or CrimeSC.com.