It turns out that volunteer firefighter Jamie Brock was in fact armed with a handgun when he took down the teenager who murdered his father and then went of a shooting spree at Townville Elementary School.

A firefighter who had been reported to be unarmed when he took down a 14-year-old accused in a school shooting was actually carrying a handgun, the sheriff revealed Monday.

Jamie Brock, 30-year veteran volunteer firefighter, confronted J___ O___*, who is accused of killing his father and a first-grader and wounding a teacher and another 6-year-old on Wednesday.

Brock was the first to reach Townville Elementary School Wednesday afternoon after Osborne opened fire on the playground, authorities said.

Fire Chief Billy McAdams said he and Brock were at his nearby farm when they heard the call about the shooting, and they raced to the school, getting there before deputies.

The Townville Volunteer Fire Department is just down the road from the school. Brock got to the elementary school moments before other officers could respond to a 911 call.

By the time Brock reached the playground, first-grade teacher Meghan Hollingsworth and Jacob Hall and another boy had been wounded.

McAdams said Brock took the shooter down, and he did not mention the gun.

Officials would not comment on whether Brock’s gun remained holstered or if it was used in the takedown.

Handgun open carry is not legal in South Carolina, strongly suggesting that not only was Brock armed, but that he was likely concealed carrying his handgun when he responded to the scene.

The teenager who carried out the shooting at the school had murdered his father before stealing his car and attacking the school for reasons still unknown.

Student Jacob Hall suffered a femoral artery hit in the shooting, and according to sources, authorities with trauma kits didn’t arrive until seven minutes after the shooting (an adult can bleed out from  a femoral artery hit within 2-3 minutes). Despite the application of two tourniquets at that time, Hall had already suffered critical blood loss.

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Please consider getting Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) training and make a tourniquet and pressure dressing part of your home, in-car, and EDC kits.

For those of you in central NC or upper SC, retired Special Forces medic Mike “Witch Doc” Voytko will be teaching a 1-Day Basic Trauma Management Course in Sanford, SC, on November 19th for SOB Tactical.  Please sign up, and I’ll see you there.

* Bearing Arms does not publish the names of mass or spree killers.