School shooting suspect’s arrest caught on camera, family releases statement

“I’m so scared,” suspect said repeatedly
FOX Carolina's Brookley Cromer talked to a woman who recorded a 12-year-old school shooting suspect on her doorbell camera.
Published: Apr. 1, 2022 at 7:38 PM EDT|Updated: Apr. 2, 2022 at 12:01 AM EDT
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GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The 12-year-old boy who deputies say shot and killed another student at Tanglewood Middle School was caught on camera in the minutes following the shooting.

The suspect is charged with murder, but he hasn’t been identified due to his age. FOX Carolina has blurred his face where visible in the images below.

Deputies say he shot 12-year-old classmate Jamari Jackson in the chest in the 700 wing of the school Thursday afternoon. Jackson later died at the hospital.

After the shooting, deputies said the young suspect fled the school. He knocked on the door of a nearby home, which was recorded on resident Elaine Griffin’s doorbell camera.

A neighbor's doorbell camera captured the moments after a deadly school shooting at Tanglewood Middle School. (Video credit: Elaine Griffin/Arlo)

“I’m so scared,” the suspect says repeatedly. “There’s been a shooting at the school.”

“He started hollering that there was a shooting at the school and he was scared. He said, ‘Can you call my dad?’” Griffin said.

She called his dad for him. The suspect eventually hid under Griffin’s deck while waiting for him.

She said the boy’s dad got in touch with detectives.

“They found him up under there and he told them that the gun was up under some wood we had under the deck,” she said.

Griffin’s doorbell camera also captured deputies later taking the boy away from the property.

School shooting suspect arrested.
School shooting suspect arrested.(Elaine Griffin/Arlo)

FOX Carolina’s Cody Alcorn captured exclusive pictures of the suspect being detained across the street from the school.

Suspect in the deadly shooting at Tanglewood Middle School is arrested.
Suspect in the deadly shooting at Tanglewood Middle School is arrested.(FOX Carolina News)

A motive for the deadly shooting has not yet been released.

Attorney David Rutledge released a statement Friday saying: “On behalf of their child, the family extends their sympathy for the death of Jamari Jackson and extends sympathy to his family.”

Statement from family of school shooting suspect.
Statement from family of school shooting suspect.(FOX Carolina News)

FULL COVERAGE: ‘We are all devastated:’ Family of 12-year-old killed in school shooting releases statement