The alleged gunman, who was also in the vehicle where the elementary school principal from South Carolina was discovered shot to death, is now in jail, according to officials.
According to Douglass Pernell, sheriff of Dillon County, Wendy Cook, 54, was shot early on Sunday. Her death was declared a murder on Monday, according to WBTW-coroner TV’s Donnie Grimsley.
According to Pernell, officers were dispatched at about 3:15 a.m. on Sunday to a residence near Dillon to look into reports of gunfire and there they detained Kyle Church, 31. According to Pernell, when deputies came, they discovered Cook and Church in a vehicle, and Cook was already dead. He said that deputies also found a gun.
In the Dillon County Detention Center, Church is being detained on suspicion of murder and having a firearm while committing a violent felony. It wasn’t clear whether he had a lawyer who could represent him in court.
Cook served as the elementary school’s principal in Dillon County School District 4. According to District 4 Superintendent Ray Rogers, she has been employed by the district for close to 25 years.
In a statement released on Monday, state superintendent of schools Molly Spearman expressed her “sadness” at Cook’s passing.
According to Spearman, “her Dillon County School District 4 coworkers and friends remark about the outstanding job she accomplished leading her school and the many effects she had on her children and staff.” “The whole Dillon school community has my sincere sympathies as they lament this loss,”
According to an online obituary, Cook is survived by a daughter, son, and grandchild. Wednesday will be the day of her funeral.
Cook and Church were acquaintances, according to Pernell’s statement on Tuesday, but the killing’s reason has not been made public. He said that he was unsure whether Church was one of Cook’s previous pupils.
Church’s subsequent court appearance is planned for October 5, according to online court records.
According to court documents cited by WBTW-TV, Church is a defendant in an ongoing wrongful death action. According to the authorities, Teddy Yarborough was killed in June 2020 when an ATV was struck by a vehicle. According to the complaint, Church, who was operating the ATV and Yarborough, who was a passenger, were struck by the automobile after Church failed to surrender the right-of-way, according to the station.