Nathaniel Cary

The Greenville (S.C.) News

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- As 6-year-old Jacob Hall clung to life Thursday on life support in the intensive care unit at Greenville Memorial Hospital, family and friends gathered to pray for the boy his brother described as a happy, intelligent, God-fearing child who would pray every night for others.

The family said late Thursday that Hall had sustained a major brain injury due to the amount of blood he’d lost. He has been placed on life support, the family said in a statement to The Greenville News.

Hall was shot in the leg Wednesday afternoon by a gunman who opened fire at first-grade students as they played on the playground outside Townville Elementary School in Anderson County.

He remained in critical condition late Thursday afternoon, according to a statement released by the hospital, while family members begged the community to continue to pray.

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We’re waiting and hoping for a miracle,” said one of Hall’s older brothers, Gerald Gambrell.

Hall was revived twice in the moments after the shooting, according to State Rep. Alan Clemmons, who said he is a friend of the family.

In a widely shared post on Facebook, Clemmons said Hall had been shot in the femoral artery.

"He died twice, and was revived, during medical transport and again during surgery," Clemmons said. "He's in ICU now where a team of doctors are working to stabilize him. Once stabilized, he will face yet another surgery. PLEASE join me in fervent prayer for little Jacob's recovery. Thank you!!!"

Clemmons said Hall is the nephew of close friends and former neighbors of his in Myrtle Beach.

Hall, a smart boy — “top of his class in first grade” — with light-brown hair who wears dark-rimmed glasses and a constant smile, loved to go to school in Townville, the only place he’s known as home, Gambrell said.

Hall attends Oakdale Baptist Church, which is near his school and also served as the pickup location for parents after Wednesday’s attack.

“He comes in Sunday School every Sunday morning with just a smile on his face,” said Tim Marcengill, Oakdale’s associate pastor. “He’ll make you laugh and tell you he loves you. And he loves the Lord, and he knew that the Lord loves him. Several weeks back, his grandfather led him to faith even though he’s 6-years-old, he had an understanding. He’s able to just make everybody in there on a Sunday morning light up.”

Family and friends gathered in a circle in the parking lot of a Walmart in Powdersville Thursday evening to pray. Tears flowed as family and friends hugged and held each other.

“The power of prayer can uplift so many things,” Gambrell said. “We just ask everybody to just keep praying.”

A family friend of the Halls also started a fundraiser on the website GoFundMe on Wednesday night. It had an initial goal of $10,000, which was surpassed on Thursday morning and raised to $50,000, which was also surpassed Thursday. GoFundMe said Thursday it also had donated $5,000 to the fund.

The donations and GoFundMe have meant a lot to the family, Gambrell said.

“The prayers and the donations you’ve sent are true blessings," he said. "Our whole entire family thanks each and every one of y’all for what you have done and we just ask that you keep praying.”

Hall’s parents, Rodger and Renae, have remained by his side at the hospital, Gambrell said. Wednesday night, Gov. Nikki Haley flew to Greenville to meet with the family and visited with them for an extended time. She called the mother of the other student who had been shot in the foot and released from the hospital earlier in the day. She also spoke by phone with the students’ teacher, Meghan Hollingsworth, who had been shot in the shoulder as she raced to get students inside the school during the shooting.

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"The governor is keeping all of those impacted in her prayers and asks everyone in South Carolina to do the same,” Haley’s press secretary Chaney Adams, said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “She will continue to communicate with Jacob's family and the families of those two who were released throughout the weekend."

Gambrell spoke quietly and held back emotions while he talked about his little brother, who he said always wears a smile.

“He’s a wonderful kid. He doesn’t deserve any of this at all. No child in this world deserves this,” he said. “It’s just heartbreaking and miserable that it happens to be my little brother.”