St. Louis school shooting: Gunman who killed 61-year-old woman and a 16-year-old

CNN
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A teen and an adult were killed in a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis on Monday morning, police Commissioner Michael Sack said.

Officers arrived at the school four minutes after the first 911 call and it took them eight minutes to find the gunman. After a two-minute gun battle, the suspect was reported down, Sack told reporters at a news conference.

Authorities did not immediately identify the victims, but Sack said a 61-year-old woman was pronounced dead at a hospital and a 16-year-old girl was killed at the scene.

The commissioner identified the gunman as Orlando Harris, a 19-year-old who graduated from the school last year. He died at a hospital, Sack said.

Authorities are working to “try and come up with what might have led him to this. There’s suspicion, there may be some mental illness that he was experiencing. We are working on developing that information right now,” Sack said.

The shooter had no prior criminal history.

Seven other teenagers were hurt and went to the hospital, Sack said. Some had gunshot or graze wounds and some had abrasions. One had a fractured ankle. They are all in stable conditions, the commissioner said.

The commissioner said the gunman had long gun and around a dozen 30-round ammunition magazines with him.

Sack would not say how the gunman entered the school but said the school doors were locked, which delayed the suspect and bought responding officers time.

“The security staff did an outstanding job identifying the suspect’s efforts to enter and immediately notified other staff and ensured that we were contacted,” Sack said.

The St. Louis Police Metropolitan Police Department reported the active shooter on Twitter, and about 45 minutes later, tweeted, “At this time, the scene is secure and there is no active threat.”

The school district is devastated after Monday’s shooting, it said in a statement. CVPA and two neighboring schools were evacuated to a reunification location, St. Louis Public Schools said.

Speaking on the phone, math teacher David Williams said the gunshots erupted shortly after 9 a.m. local time (10 a.m. ET) and everyone went into “drill mode,” turning off lights, locking doors and huddling in corners so they couldn’t be seen.

There was a bang on the door, and it shook, he said. “Someone was trying to open the door,” Williams said.

Sirens emerged in the distance, and then Williams heard three shots, he said. Someone with an adult voice could be heard screaming, “You are all going to f**king die,” he recalled.

Shortly thereafter, a bullet came through one of the windows in his classroom, Williams said.

The gunshots picked up pace, he said.

About then, officers from tactical teams arrived – a huge group of them, well organized – and there was another round of gunshots before Williams heard a woman announcing…