Main Highlights:
- A teen and a woman were killed in a shooting on Monday morning at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School
- There was another round of shooting before Williams, according to him, heard a woman identify herself as a police officer as a huge group of well-organized tactical team members approached.
- FBI’s St. Louis field office is assisting local law enforcement in its response to the shooting.
According to St. Louis police commissioner Michael Sack, a teen and a woman were killed in a shooting on Monday morning at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.
Four minutes after the initial 911 call, officers arrived at the school, and it took them eight minutes to locate the shooter. The suspect was reported to be down following a two-minute gunfight, Sack told reporters at a news conference.
Authorities did not immediately release the names of the victims, but according to Sack, a 16-year-old girl was also killed there, and a 61-year-old woman was declared dead at a hospital.
Orlando Harris, a 19-year-old who received his diploma from the school last year, was named as the shooter by the commissioner. Sack reported that he passed away in a hospital.
Authorities are attempting to identify “what might have caused him to do this.” There is a possibility that he was dealing with a mental illness. Right now, we are developing that information,” Sack stated.
The shooter had never been in trouble before.
According to Sack, seven additional teenagers were hurt and treated at the hospital. Some of them had graze or gunshot wounds, while others had abrasions. One of them had a broken ankle. According to the commissioner, everyone is in stable condition.
According to the commissioner, the shooter was carrying a long gun and about a dozen 30-round magazines.
Sack would not specify how the shooter entered the school, but she did claim that the doors were locked, which gave responding police time to approach the suspect.
Security personnel “did an outstanding job” of spotting the intruder’s attempts to enter, alerting other employees right away, and making sure they got in touch with us, according to Sack.
According to George Sells, the director of communications for St. Louis Public Schools, there were security guards present at the school when the shooting occurred.
“We had seven employees working in the building who did an excellent job of quickly sounding the alarm. As a result, the police could respond quickly, as could our response teams, who were among the first to arrive on the scene. Therefore, that was just more skillfully done work by many people.
After reporting the active shooter on Twitter, the St. Louis Police Metropolitan Police Department tweeted, “At this time, the scene is secure and there is no active threat,” about 45 minutes later.
The school district released a statement on Monday expressing its devastation over the shooting. According to St. Louis Public Schools, CVPA and two nearby schools were evacuated and taken to a reunification location.
Teacher: There were several gunshots.
David Williams, a math teacher, described how everyone went into “drill mode” after hearing the gunshots, turning off lights, locking doors, and hiding in corners to avoid being seen, shortly after 9 a.m. local time (10 a.m. ET).
He claimed that the door shook after hearing a bang. Williams reported that “someone was attempting to open the door.”
Williams claimed that three shots were fired shortly after the distant sound of sirens. He remembered hearing someone screaming, “You are all going to f**king die,” in an adult voice.
Shortly after, a bullet entered his classroom through one of the windows, according to Williams.
He said the pace of the gunshots increased.
Then, a large group of well-organized tactical team members arrived, and there was another round of gunfire before Williams, according to him, heard a woman identify herself as a police officer.
He added that the incident lasted about 40 minutes and that Williams and the students fled to an emergency exit.
Williams’ classroom is on the third floor, where police shot the shooter, according to Sack.
Many people reacted as if they were trained to prevent harm from coming to others, according to St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner.
One thing is certain: the lockdown procedures that St. Louis Public School administrators, teachers, and students at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School followed as this attack unfolded were crucial in preventing further violence, according to Gardner. “The situation is still developing, and we will know more in the coming days,” Gardner said.
Assisting FBI and ATF
The magnet high school, which enrolls about 400 students, is located about 6 miles southwest of the city center.
According to the district, students were being taken away from campus “to safe and secure sites.” Parents have been informed they can pick up their children at Gateway Stem High School, about a mile and a half north of CVPA, and are being asked to stay away from the area.
The news of the shooting was announced on the same day that Ethan Crumbley, a Michigan teenager, pleaded guilty to murder charges in connection with a shooting at a school there last year that left four people dead and seven injured.
Nikolas Cruz will receive his punishment on November 1 for the February 2018 shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which resulted in 17 fatalities.
A Michigan prosecutor spoke out about gun violence after Crumbley’s guilty plea as the investigation into the St. Louis shooting was developing.
“Sharing with other departments is not the only aspect. Gun violence can be avoided. That’s what I’ve discovered, and it horrifies me not at all that there has been another school shooting,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said. It is avoidable, and we should never, ever accept that as something we must endure.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre urged Congress to act and pass an assault weapons ban at a press conference held at the White House.
Her words were, “Our hearts go out to everyone affected by today’s senseless violence, particularly those injured and killed, their families, as well as the first responders.” “To end the scourge of gun violence, more action is required.
It is “a day too late for our families and communities affected by gun violence every day the Senate fails to send an assault weapons ban to the President’s desk, or waits to take another – other common-sense actions.”
According to spokeswoman Rebecca Wu, the FBI’s St. Louis field office is assisting local law enforcement in its response to the shooting. According to a statement from spokesperson John Ham, assistance is also being provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives field office in Kansas City, Missouri.
