South Carolina teacher murders two young children, commits suicide

A South Carolina school teacher and her two young children were found shot to death Wednesday in what police are calling a murder-suicide.

Police were called for a welfare check at the home of 42-year-old Laura Moberly at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, reported The Post and Courier out of Myrtle Beach. There they found Moberly and her two children — Eric, 11, and Emily, 8 — dead of gunshot wounds from a shooting that the Horry County Coroner’s Office said took place around 6 a.m.

The town of Conway, S.C., is about 9 miles west of Myrtle Beach.

Moberly was a reading loss interventionist at Carolina Forest Elementary School. Her daughter attended the school as a third-grader, and Eric was in seventh grade at Ten Oaks Middle School.

“HCPD is saddened to acknowledge the death of two young children in a shooting incident yesterday in the Carolina Forest area,” the Horry County Police Department said in a Facebook statement. “Around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, officers responded to a home on Centennial Circle for a welfare check. Upon arrival, it was determined that three people were deceased within the home.”

Police, Horry County Fire Rescue, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Child Fatality Unit and the Horry County Coroner’s Office are investigating, the statement said, as well as notifying next of kin and supporting anyone who needs it.

“Our community is hurting today, and that is undeniable,” the police department said. “We ask that you be kind to one another — you may not know who has been impacted by this tragedy.”

They said the investigation was ongoing as they sought to determine a motive, but that there was no larger threat to the public.

“We are at a loss for words after learning of the tragic incident that affected an entire family with ties to Horry County Schools,” the district said in a statement obtained by WBTW-TV. “We lift our strongest prayers for the Moberley family and for everyone who knew them. We encourage our community to keep our students and staff in their thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time.”