ORANGEBURG, S.C. — The Orangeburg community as a whole was shaken by Wednesday's school shooting at a local high school.
Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School will be closed to students for the rest of the week, and counseling will be available for student, staff and families after a shooting at the school injured three students on Wednesday.
On Thursday, News 19 caught up with a sophomore, who heard the tragedy unfold.
“I just have to thank God because it was just God that kept us in there." That's what Triniti Davis said after recounting the shooting that sent three students to the hospital Wednesday.
Davis was at chorus practice when she said she heard about five gunshots come from outside. "We were just confused at first, like, we didn’t know what that was. We was shocked. My friend was like, 'bro, they shooting, they shooting' and I was like, 'nooo, they’re not shooting on the third day, they’re not shooting on the third day'," Davis remembers.
She said it took a while to realize what was going on. "I didn’t know what I was feeling. I was confused, I was shocked. I was like, ‘dang, like why would they do this on the third day of school," Davis continued. "And it's my first year at OW, and I’m hearing so many like stereotypical things about OW."
Davis said she was excited to give the high school a chance, but never thought something like what happened on Wednesday would happen. “My heart was beating, like, cause I was like, 'it could have been any one of my friends out there, it could have been any one of us out there,' and it was like right beside the chorus room outside.”
Is Davis worried that something like this might happen again? “Yeah, I am. But I’m trusting the staff, that they’re going to help with everything. I think they’re going to work harder to make it a safer environment for everyone at OW.”
News 19 also talked with other community members about the toll this kind of thing takes on a community.
“It’s such a tragic situation that happened, and it’s unfortunate that it happened to innocent kids," Lavaniece Kelly said. She owns Laced N Luxury on Russell Street in Orangeburg, exactly 8 minutes and 3.6 miles away from Orangeburg Wilkinson High School, where three students were shot on Wednesday.
“It’s sad that it happened here in Orangeburg," Kelly said. "Orangeburg isn’t a big city so that’s one of our main high schools, just about the biggest high school that we have here in the county, so it’s unfortunate that it did happen to those students.”
Kelly is an OW High School alum herself and, as a business owner in the community, she was very frightened, “It isn’t the school's fault. It isn’t the district's fault. It’s just an unfortunate situation," Kelly said. The only thing we can really grasp on is we have to take control of our community. We have to get intact with our kids, and we have to realize the seriousness of what’s going on.”
“When I heard it ... it just goes to show how much time has changed," said Carl Jefferson, also an OW alum. “A lot of times, I don’t think they’re thinking. They’re not thinking about the repercussions of what they’re doing and it's sad.”
“My heart does go out to the parents of those children and the faculty and staff and also to the students that were involved and not involved," Kelly said.