Richland One superintendent releases statement after two students lose their lives to gun violence

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)– Richland One Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon released a statement after two students lost their lives to gun violence over the past week.

“For the second time in less than a week, we are mourning the loss of one of our students. De’Marion Corbett, a junior at Columbia High School, was killed yesterday (April 20). Desmond Wilson, a junior at Lower Richland High School, was killed over the weekend.

Once again, young lives have been tragically cut short by gun violence and we find ourselves asking why and searching for answers not just as a school district, but as a community.

Our Crisis Team has been deployed to provide additional support and counseling to students and staff as needed at Columbia High and Lower Richland High. We ask everyone to keep those school communities and the families of the two students in your thoughts and prayers.”

According to authorities, Wilson was killed at an apartment complex on Garners Ferry Road. Around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, deputies with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department say they responded to the 8100 block of Garners Ferry Road for a reported shooting. Once on the scene, authorities say they found a male lying in the breezeway of an apartment building. Investigators say the male had been shot, and he was pronounced dead on the scene.

On Wednesday, investigators say Corbett was killed in a shooting at Riverside Apartments Wednesday. Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook says three people were hit by gunfire. The other two victims, who were ages 17 and 18, were taken to the hospital for treatment.