School gunman had AR-15-style weapon, 600 rounds of ammo
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The 19year-old gunman who killed a teacher and a 15-year-old girl at a St. Louis high school was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and what appeared to be more than 600 rounds of ammunition, Police Commissioner Michael Sack said Tuesday.
Orlando Harris also left behind a hand-written note offering his explanation for the shooting Monday at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. Tenth-grader Alexandria Bell and 61-year-old physical education teacher Jean Kuczka died and seven students were wounded.
Police killed Harris in an exchange of gunfire.
Sack read Harris' note in which the young man lamented that he had no friends, no family, no girlfriend and a life of isolation. In the note, he called it the "perfect storm for a mass shooter."
Sack said Harris had some ammo strapped to his chest, some in a bag, and other magazines were found dumped in stairwells.
The attack forced students to barricade doors and huddle in classroom corners, jump from windows and run out of the building to seek safety. One terrorized girl said she was eyeto-eye with the shooter before his gun apparently jammed and she was able to run out. Several people inside the school said they heard Harris warn, "You are all going to die!"
Harris, 19, graduated from the school last year. The FBI was assisting police in the investigation. Sack, speaking at a news conference, urged people to come forward when someone who appears to suffer from mental illness or distress begins "speaking about purchasing firearms or causing harm to others."
Relatives of those killed mourned their losses.
"Alexandria was my everything," her father, Andre Bell, told KSDK-TV. "She was joyful, wonderful and just a great person."
Alexandria, a 10th grader, was outgoing, loved to dance and was a member of the school's junior varsity dance team.
"She was the girl I loved to see and loved to hear from. No matter how I felt, I could always talk to her and it was alright. That was my baby," Andre Bell said.
Abby Kuczka said her mother was killed when the gunman burst into her classroom and she moved between him and her students.
"My mom loved kids," Abbey Kuczka told the St. Louis PostDispatch. "She loved her students. I know her students looked at her like she was their mom."
The seven injured students are all 15 or 16 years old. All were listed in stable condition. Sack said four suffered gunshot or graze wounds, two had bruises and one had a broken ankle — apparently from jumping out of the three-story building.
The school in south St. Louis was locked, with seven security guards near each door, St. Louis Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams said. A security guard initially became alarmed when he saw the gunman trying to get in one of the doors. He was armed with a gun and "there was no mystery about what was going to happen. He had it out and entered in an aggressive, violent manner," Sack said.
That guard alerted school officials and made sure police were contacted.
Harris managed to get inside anyway — Sack declined to say how, saying he didn't want to "make it easy" for anyone else who wants to break into a school.