St Louis school shooting - latest: Orlando Harris had AR-15, 600 rounds and manifesto praising mass shooters
Armed responders shoot dead attacker, named by police as 19-year-old Orlando Harris
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The gunman who shot dead a teacher and pupil in St Louis was identified on Monday evening as a former pupil of the city’s Central VPA High School, where the attack took place.
The attacker, named by police as 19-year-old Orlando Harris, was shot dead by armed responders. He graduated from the school last year.
The authorities noted that it could have been much worse.
“The individual had almost a dozen 30-round … high-capacity magazines on him. That’s a whole lot of victims there,” Police Commissioner Michael Sack said, according to CNN.
He left a note in his car with a list of other school shootings in the US, with the names of the gunmen and the number of people killed, and expressed his desire to be the next name on it.
“I don’t have any friends, I don’t have any family. I’ve been an isolated loner my whole life. This was a perfect storm for a mass shooting,” Harris wrote.
Eight victims were transported to hospital for injuries ranging from gunshot wounds to a broken ankle.
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Devoted PE teacher identified among the dead in St Louis school shooting
A devoted teacher has been identified as one of the two fatal victims in the high school shooting in St Louis.
Jean Kirk Kuzcka, 61, who taught physical education at Central VPA High School, was gunned down by the shooter during the violence on Monday morning. The second victim, 15-year-old Alexandria Bell, was in dance class when the gunman – later identified as former student Orlando Harris, 19, who was killed by police – shot her dead.
Ms Kuzcka, who commuted one hour to work every day from her home in Dittmer, was fondly remembered by some of her former students.
“She was a great teacher, very fair, very honest to all her students,” Jasmine Wooten, who graduated from Central VPA in 2011, told The Independent about Ms Kuzcka. “She was a mentor to me. She was very supportive of me well into adulthood.”
“If I needed anything as an adult, recommendation letters or words of support. If I had any life accomplishment, she would be the first one to ... support me.”
Read more:
Devoted PE teacher and tenth grader among the dead at St Louis school shooting
Jean Kirk Kuzcka taught physical education at Central VPA and was described as “a great teacher, very fair, very honest”
15-year-old student dancer identified among the dead in St Louis school shooting
A 15-year-old student has been identified as one of the two fatal victims in the high school shooting in St Louis.
Alexandria Bell, was in dance class when the gunman – later identified as former student Orlando Harris, 19, who was killed by police – shot her dead.
Alexandria’s father, Andre Bell, recounted learning about his daughter’s death and thinking it was a nightmare.
“My daughter’s mother called me and that’s how I found out. I didn’t initially think the call was real,” Mr Bell said told local news station KSDK. “Alexandria was my everything. She was joyful, wonderful and just a great person.”
The tenth grader’s mother also shared a harrowing message on social media, saying that at the time of the violence, Alexandria “was just dancing. Her passion, not running the streets or skipping school. She was in class, and she still wasn’t safe.”
Police share images of firearm and ammo used in shooting
‘I’ve never had a girlfriend, I’ve never had a social life,’ gunman writes
Police said the note left in Harris’s vehicle partly said that “I don’t have any friends I don’t have any family, I’ve never had a girlfriend, I’ve never had a social life, I’ve been an isolated loner my entire this. This was the perfect storm for a mass shooting”.
Harris was shot by police at 9.25am on Monday morning.
VIDEO: St Louis school shooting results in multiple fatalities
‘He feels isolated, he feels alone, quite possibly angry and resentful,’ police chief say
After sharing the note left behind by Harris, interim St Louis police chief Michael Sack said that “in reading this, we can see some of what’s going on inside his mind”.
“He feels isolated, he feels alone, quite possibly angry and resentful of others who have what appears to him to be healthy relationships, and so a desire to lash out,” he added.
Harris wrote: “I don’t have any friends, I don’t have any family, I’ve never had a girlfriend, I’ve never had a social life. I’ve been an isolated loner my entire life. This was the perfect storm for a mass shooter.”
‘He came into the building with more than 600 rounds of ammunition,’ police chief says
At a press briefing on Tuesday, police chief Mike Sack said that “in addition to the rifle brought in, a large quantity of ammunition—he had seven magazines of ammunition on a chest brick that he wore. He also had an additional eight magazines of ammunition in a field bag that he had carried”.
“This doesn’t include the number of magazines that he left and dumped on the stairway in the corridors along the way. It appears he came into the building with more than 600 rounds of ammunition on his person,” Mr Sack added.
Gunman didn’t enter school at checkpoint where guards were stationed
The gunman didn’t enter the school at a checkpoint where guards were stationed, DeAndre Davis, the director of safety and security at St Louis Public Schools, has said.
He added that the guards at the schools are unarmed.
“For some people that would cause a stir of some sort,” Mr Davis said on Tuesday, according to CNN. “For us, we thought it’s best for our officers, for the normalcy of school for kids, to not have officers armed in the school.”
Teacher put herself in the firing line
Teacher Jean Kuczka, 61, died protecting her students during the school shooting, according to co-worker Kristie Faulstich.
“One student looked at me and she said, ‘they shot Ms Kuczka.’ And then she said that Ms Kuczka had put herself between the gunman and the students,” Ms Faulstich said, according to CNN.
Daughter Abigail Kuczka told the outlet that her mother had been looking forward to retiring within a few years.