An armed U.S. Army trainee hijacked a school bus full of elementary school students in South Carolina on Thursday before letting the children off, abandoning the bus, and surrendering to authorities.

The trainee was stationed at Fort Jackson and left the base with a rifle at around 7 a.m. local time and tried flagging drivers on Interstate 77 before he saw the school bus, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott detailed during a press conference later that morning.