Remembering the Oakland Elementary School Shooting, Greenwood South Carolina, September 28, 1988

Date: September 28
Year: 1988
School: Oakland Elementary School
Location: Greenwood

State: South Carolina

Wounded: 9
Fatalities: 2

Shequila Bradley, age 8, died at the scene.
Tequila Thomas, (no photo available)
also 8, died 3 days later

Shots Fired: 18?
Time lapsed: Unknown
Police response time: Unknown
How ended: A teacher confronted him, he shot the teacher in the mount. Teacher talked him into dropping the gun and waiting. He was arrested without further incident.
Civilians involved: An unarmed physical education teacher talked him into surrendering and waiting for police.

Perpetrator: James William Wilson Jr.

Age: 19

Family history: Father was abusive, threatened to shoot his son to discipline him on at least one occasion. He often lived with his grandmother, who rented the movie Psycho over and over and made him watch it with her.
Bullied: Yes, teased for being overweight and dressing funny.
Red flags: Trouble in school, dropped out in 10th grade.Tutoring unhelpful. Once hit mother with baseball bat to protest going to school. Hospitalized for suicidal threats. Blackened mothers eye.
Mental illness history: Hospitilized multiple times for suicidal threats and violent actions. Was being treated in a facility until the age of 18, when fathers insurance no longer covered him. He was no longer able to be in the hospital. Later diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Drug or medication use: Xanex for depression and anxiety, no longer able to continue use after loss of insurance.

Inspiration: In May of the same year, a very troubled mentally ill woman by the name of Laurie Dann had gone on a spree with the intent of killing as many people as possible using poisoned treats, improvised explosives, and a firearm. Dann had sfired shots at a school  Wilson told investigators that he was fascinated by the event, and had reread an article about Laurie Dann every day for several months. "I could understand where she was coming from," he said.
He had been obsessed with serial killers for several years before the shootings. The night before the shooting he was reading a book about serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
Possible motive: At the time he told investigators  "I thought some of the students in the school were after me,'' Mr. Wilson was quoted as saying in the interview. ''I was trying to make them be quiet. I feel real bad about what happened.''
Though he did not know anybody at the school or have reason to target it, a psychiatrist speculated that he targeted young children, because that was the age when he was teased and bullied. Later told reporters that he wanted to be back in the hospital where he wouldn't commit a crime

Said Jamie, "At 19 my daddy's insurance didn't cover me no more and I couldn't go into the hospital again."
"When his insurance expired on his birthday," said Jamie's mother, "he was discharged from the hospital."
Reporter: "And you wanted to be in the hospital?"
Jamie: "Yeah!"
Reporter: "Why'd you want to go to the hospital, Jamie?"
Jamie: "So I wouldn't do a crime."
Reporter: "So you thought you'd do a crime if you weren't in the hospital?"
Jamie: "Yeah."
Jamie Wilson walked into Oakland just months after he stopped receiving treatment. He would ultimately be diagnosed with schizophrenia.

http://www.wistv.com/story/5679368/18-years-on-death-row-background-of-a-killer 

 Weapons: 9-shot .22-caliber revolver

Weapons obtained: It was his deceased grandfathers. Stolen from grandmother, he unloaded it and reloaded it with newly purchased hollow point bullets. 

Training: Uncertain, father threatened to get his gun to discipline Wilson when he was young. Mother implied this was not unusual for his father.

Aftermath: Wilson was the first person sentenced to death under South Carolina's guilty-but-mentally-ill law, passed in 1984 where he remains to this day.

South Carolina Code of Laws section 17-24-20 https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t17c024.php

Resulting actions: He has been on death row since 1985, nearly 30 years. A fellow inmate says that Wilson did not have the ability to control himself. He said when he first met Wilson he was locked down in a holding cell with cameras on him at all times. He said the water had been cut off to Wilsons cell, so the toilet was overflowing and there was feces on the walls. The last time his mother visited him, he didn't remember her anymore and she was told it would be best if she stopped coming.

The Shooting: From court documents - On the morning of September 26, 1988, Jamie Wilson drove to his maternal grandmother's house and stole her .22 caliber, nine-shot revolver. Wilson then drove to an Abbeville discount store and purchased some .22 hollow-point long rifle ammunition. Wilson discarded the bullets already loaded in the gun, and reloaded the weapon with the more destructive hollow-point bullets. Wilson next proceeded to the Oakland Elementary School in Greenwood, where he parked his 1974 Maverick. He entered the school, finding his way to the cafeteria, where he stood quietly for a moment. It was right at lunch time for many of the children. Next, Wilson pulled out the pistol and began shooting, picking his victims, both children and adults, at random. Witnesses observed a look of hatred and rage masking Wilson's face.

Wilson fired until his gun was empty. He then went into a restroom and reloaded the weapon, after which he entered a classroom and opened fire again. After emptying his gun a second time, Wilson threw the gun down and stepped outside through a window. A teacher spotted him and told him to remain still with his hands up, which Wilson did. The police then arrived and took Wilson into custody. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/352/847/478596/

Conspiracy Theories: None known

Second Victim Dies After School Shooting Incident
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/30/us/second-victim-dies-after-school-shooting-incident.html

School gunman sentenced to die
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/05/10/School-gunman-sentenced-to-die/4623610776000/

S.C. mom recalls the horror, guilt 24 years ago, her son shot and killed 2 young girls at school
https://www.postandcourier.com/archives/s-c-mom-recalls-the-horror-guilt-years-ago-her/article_f5ab6083-392a-5878-b084-fb4b6db08cda.html

18 years on death row: Background of a killer
http://www.wistv.com/story/5679368/18-years-on-death-row-background-of-a-killer