CHARLESTON (TIP): A 14-year-old South Carolina boy shot and killed his father then drove to an elementary school playground where he wounded two children and a teacher with a handgun before being tackled by a firefighter who held him for police, authorities said on Sept 28.

The suspect, whose name has not been released, was accused by police of fatally shooting his 47-year-old father, Jeffrey DeWitt Osborne, then driving a pickup truck about 3.2 km to Townville Elementary School where he crashed into a fence surrounding the playground.

After the teenager began shooting, volunteer firefighter Jamie Brock pinned him down while staff led children to safety inside the building, Anderson County emergency services director Taylor Jones told a news conference.

Police arrived within seven minutes of a teacher calling 911 to take the suspect into custody at the school in Anderson County, near the Georgia state line about 160 km northeast of Atlanta. The shooter never entered the building, said chief deputy Keith Smith. Authorities do not know the motivation of the shooting but ruled out race as both the shooter and victims were white. US schools have taken added security precautions since 2012 when a gunman shot and killed 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Brock, a 30-year veteran of the Townville Volunteer Fire Department, was hailed on social media as a hero and credited with preventing another school massacre.