The defendant will be charged with numerous counts of kidnapping.
The incident started around 7 a.m. Thursday if the defendant allegedly fled Fort Jackson,'' Lott explained.
The kids had boarded the bus once the defendant, armed with a gun, got on in the bus stop and also supposedly"told that the bus driver that he did not wish to hurt himbut he desired him to push him to another city," Lott explained.
The bus driver began driving along with the defendant brought the kids to the front of the bus,'' Lott explained.
"The children started asking a lot of questions to the defendant if he had been going to hurt the bus driver," Lott explained.
"The defendant got a little disappointed," Lott explained, and the driver pulled over.
The defendant then drove the bus for a couple miles before abandoning it, leaving the gun inside, Lott explained.
The defendant was seen by deputies and civilians and was detained without incident, Lott explained. The trainee, considered to be in his third week in Fort Jackson, will be charged with numerous counts of kidnapping,'' Lott explained. His name hasn't yet been published.
A few of the kids had cellphones. Lott said police were alerted to the situation when a parent ceased a deputy to state"there clearly was a guy with a gun to the bus."
Richland County School Board Chairman James Manning stated,"I have been around the board today for more than a decade and I have not got a call that frightened me just as far as the telephone which I got this afternoon -- that a bus was hijacked with our pupils and staff"
The pupils were taken to school"in which they received assistance from college workers and advisers and have been reunited with their parents/guardians," the school district stated.
Superintendent Baron Davis said in a statement,"After we were sure all pupils were accounted for and physically secure, we immediately started deploying social and psychological counseling resources into the faculty to ensure our students could start the process of recovery since they're working with a traumatic event. We'll continue to offer counselling services for the pupils and their families, our bus driver and workers as long as required."
Lott praised the bus driver that he said"maintained his cool" and"maintained the situation "
"His primary concern was the security of these children and that he did his job," Lott explained.
Fort Jackson officials affirmed the trainee hurried away out of his unit together with his Army-issued rifle.
"It was a collapse in our accountability processes which we really repent and are apologetic to our neighborhood," the Fort Jackson announcement said.
