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<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#292222;font-size:14px"><strong>St. Louis school shooter, 19, was a former student who returned to gun down a veteran female teacher and female student, graduated from the school in 2021 </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#292222;font-size:14px"><strong>Orlando Harris, 19, entered Central Visual and Performing Arts high school in St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday morning around 9am graduated from the school last year </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#292222;font-size:14px"><strong>Dressed all in black, Harris reportedly told students: &#8216;You&#8217;re all going to die&#8217; &#8211; before opening fire </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#292222;font-size:14px"><strong>Harris killed physical education teacher, Jean Kirk Kuczka, 61, and Alexandria &#8216;Alex&#8217; Bell a 16-year-old sophomore </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#292222;font-size:14px"><strong>Four other students were shot and injured, two in the leg, one in the arm, and one in the hands and jaw. A girl fractured her ankle, while two more students suffered abrasions </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#292222;font-size:14px"><strong>Shooter’s gun jammed at one point, giving the students time to escape </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color wp-block-heading" style="color:#292222;font-size:14px"><strong>Harris was then shot and killed by responding police officers </strong></h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Jean-Kirk-Kuczka-left-and-Alex-right-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420453" width="841" height="524"/><figcaption><strong>Health teacher Jean Kirk Kuczka, 61, and a 15-year-old student named only as Alexandria &#8216;Alex&#8217; Bell (right) were killed in the shooting in Missouri on Monday</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>Three people, including the suspected gunman, died after shots were fired inside Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis at around 9 a.m. Monday, police confirmed just after noon. <br>Police on Monday evening named the gunman as a recent graduate of the school, Orlando Harris.<br>19-year-old Harris who graduated from the school last year, was dressed entirely in black when he opened fire at the performing arts school on Monday morning, shooting dead a female teacher and a teenage girl before being killed by police.<br>He burst into the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School shortly after 9am on Monday and reportedly screamed: &#8216;You&#8217;re all going to die&#8217;. <br>Four other students were shot and injured, two in the leg, one in the arm, and one in the hands and jaw. A girl fractured her ankle, while two more students suffered abrasions.<br>The shooter’s gun jammed at one point, one student said, giving the students time to escape. <br>His rampage stopped when he was shot dead by police inside the school. Police found more than a dozen 30-round magazines on him.<br>Seven guards were inside the building at the time, but Michael Slack, commissioner of St. Louis police, refused to say at a Monday night press conference how he got inside.<br>Slack said he did not want &#8216;to give a blueprint&#8217; to other would-be gunmen.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Students-hug-after-shooting-at-Performing-Arts-high-school-in-St.-Louis-Missouri-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420455" width="839" height="621"/><figcaption><strong>Terrified students hug outside the Central Visual School in St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>The FBI appealed for anyone with photos or video to hand them over to police, to assist their investigation.<br>&#8216;The gun laws in St. Louis are very broad,&#8217; said Slack. <br>&#8216;If someone walks down the street with a rifle, if we have no cause we can&#8217;t go and talk to them. And that&#8217;s one of the greatest challenges we face.&#8217;<br>One student, Jerya Luster, said: &#8216;They were banging on Mr Williams&#8217; room door. They shot like four times.<br>&#8216;It was a white man. He said: &#8216;All of y&#8217;all are going to die.&#8221;<br>Others said the gunman said he was &#8216;tired of everybody&#8217;.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-video wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-videopress"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe title="VideoPress Video Player" aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='620' height='347' src='https://videopress.com/embed/pNGpUBl8?cover=1&;preloadContent=metadata&;useAverageColor=1&;hd=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent="true" allow='clipboard-write'></iframe><script src='https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1674852142'></script>
</div><figcaption><strong>Police react to shooting at Performing Arts high school in St. Louis, Missouri on Monday, October 24</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>His victims have been named as Jean Kirk Kuczka, a teacher, and a 16-year-old female student named Alexandria Bell.<br>Bell&#8217;s family confirmed her death on social media, hours after her mother posted in a panic that she couldn&#8217;t find her. And family and friends <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/teen-killed-in-south-st-louis-school-shooting-identified-as-always-smiling-sophomore/article_35417fcf-f84c-5545-9f2f-9b7730673ed6.html">said</a> the sophomore sophomore, loved art and dance and was constantly smiling.<br>It remains unclear how the shooter gained access to the building; police insist the doors were locked this morning, and there were seven armed guards stationed at the building &#8211; but won&#8217;t say how he was able to get inside.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Law-enforcement-investigate-shooting-at-Central-Visual-and-Performing-Arts-High-School-in-Missourri-8.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420481" width="839" height="538"/><figcaption><strong>Armed officers approached the scene with caution after an unidentified suspect shot and killed two people. District officials said that officers were able to quickly stop the shooter by fatally shooting him</strong></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Students-are-helped-to-escape-shooting-at-Performing-Arts-high-school-in-St.-Louis-Missouri-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420457" width="838" height="524"/><figcaption><strong>Terrified students escaped the school by climbing through windows and onto roofs. The gunman was killed by police after shooting two people dead</strong></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Students-hug-after-shooting-at-Performing-Arts-high-school-in-St.-Louis-Missouri-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420458" width="840" height="637"/><figcaption><strong>Students stand in a parking lot near the Central Visual &; Performing Arts High School after a shooting at the school</strong>. People embrace in the Schnucks Arsenal parking lot following a shooting at Central Visual Performing Arts High School in St. Louis on Monday</figcaption></figure>



<p>Kuczka was a mother-of-five and grandmother-of-seven. She had been teaching at the school for 14 years. <br>Police have not been able to explain how the gunman managed to get inside. <br>They told reporters that there were seven armed guards at the scene. <br>They then admitted that the guards saw the gunman trying to enter through a locked door.<br>Instead of shooting him, the guard told school officials that he was trying to get into the building, and police were called. <br>Police said the sighting of the gunman &#8216;bought them time&#8217;. <br>The call to police came in at 9:11am, and officers were on the scene at 9:15am.<br>The gunman was engaged at 9:23am, and declared &#8216;down&#8217; at 9:25am.<br>By 9:32am, the gunman was &#8216;secured, and the building cleared by 9:52am.<br>In the 14 minutes that elapsed between the first call and the gunman being shot dead, he had killed Kuczka and 15-year-old Alex.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Students-hug-after-shooting-at-Performing-Arts-high-school-in-St.-Louis-Missouri-4.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420463" width="838" height="590"/><figcaption><strong>People gather outside after a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts high school in St. Louis, on Monday</strong></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Students-hug-after-shooting-at-Performing-Arts-high-school-in-St.-Louis-Missouri-5.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420464" width="836" height="500"/><figcaption><strong>&#8216;He looked at me, he pointed the gun at me,&#8217; said Messiah Miller, 16, center, a junior at Central Visual &; Performing Arts High School, prays with his teacher Ray Parks, second from right, following a shooting at the school on Monday, in the Southwest Garden neighborhood.</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>The other seven who were injured were taken to the hospital and it remains unclear how seriously they are hurt.<br>Their injuries range from gunshot wounds to shrapnel injuries and cardiac arrest.<br>Survivors said they at first thought they were participating in an active shooter drill.<br>One of the students who encountered the gunman was still shaken up even after he&#8217;d been downed><br>&#8216;He looked at me, he pointed the gun at me,&#8217; said Messiah Miller, 16, center, a junior at Central Visual &; Performing Arts High School, as he prayed with his teacher Ray Parks, following a shooting at the school on Monday, in the Southwest Garden neighborhood.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Students-hug-after-shooting-at-Performing-Arts-high-school-in-St.-Louis-Missouri-6.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420466" width="838" height="589"/><figcaption><strong>People Students and family members support each other in the Schnucks Arsenal parking lot following the shooting at Central Visual Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, MO, on Monday</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>Taniya Gholston, 16, recalled being in the dance room when the attacker burst in. <br>She said she only survived because his gun jammed. <br>&#8216;I was in the dance room. All I heard was two shots, I was trying to run and I couldn&#8217;t run. And me and him&#8230; <br>&#8216;I&#8217;m glad I made it out because his gun got jammed,&#8217; she said.<br>&#8216;I think somebody got shot. We saw blood on the floor.&#8217; <br>Lieutenant Colonel Steve Sack, Commanding Officer for the Division of Criminal Investigation, said that as students were running out of the building, several told police officers that the suspect was inside and had a &#8216;long gun.&#8217;<br>&#8216;As kids were fleeing out of the building, they talked to some of the kids who told them that there was a shooter armed with a long gun,&#8217; Sack said during a press conference.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-46.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420484" width="836" height="517"/><figcaption><strong>This was the scene outside of Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis on Monday morning after a gunman opened fire and killed two people</strong>. <strong>Students were less than four hours into the school day when they were evacuated due to an active shooter in the building</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>The other seven who were injured were taken to the hospital and it remains unclear how seriously they are hurt.<br>Their injuries range from gunshot wounds to shrapnel injuries and cardiac arrest.<br>Survivors said they at first thought they were participating in an active shooter drill.<br>The officers then entered the school, located the shooter, and fatally shot the suspect, he continued. <br>&#8216;There was an exchange of gunfire&#8217; after the officers had located the suspect,&#8217; he said. <br>He said he did not know how the suspect got in. <br>&#8216;The doors were locked&#8217; said Sack. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Law-enforcement-investigate-shooting-at-Central-Visual-and-Performing-Arts-High-School-in-Missourri-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420470" width="837" height="545"/><figcaption> <strong>The gunman Orlando Harris was shot and killed by responding police officers </strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>Additionally, one district officials said that there were seven security officers inside the building before police arrived at the scene.<br>After a reporter pressed the police commissioner on how the gunman entered, Sack responded: &#8216;We&#8217;re not going to talk about how the suspect gained entry.&#8217;<br>Mayor Tishuara Jones said: &#8216;This is a day of tragedy.<br>&#8216;I&#8217;m stressed and I&#8217;m heartbroken, I&#8217;m heartbroken for these families.<br>&#8216;Our children shouldn&#8217;t have to experience this.<br>&#8216;They shouldn&#8217;t have to go through active shooter drills in case something happens and unfortunately that happened today.&#8217;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Law-enforcement-investigate-shooting-at-Central-Visual-and-Performing-Arts-High-School-in-Missourri-5.png" alt="" class="wp-image-420475" width="843" height="548"/><figcaption><strong>Members of multiple law enforcement investigate the scene of a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School on Monday</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>Congresswoman Cori Bush was also present at the press conference. The Democrat represents the district where St. Louis is located. <br>&#8216;Today is one of those days, those days that we pray, we pray never happens across this country,&#8217; Rep. Bush said. <br>&#8216;We want to thank again our first responders, but we also want to thank those teachers and school staff and administrators that were in place and moving and ready,&#8217; the congresswoman said. <br>&#8216;Those that were there to support the students and those that are there right now.&#8217; <br>Bush said that any families or victims &#8216;who don&#8217;t know who to talk to,&#8217; can call her office, stating that the phone lines will be open for those who need help. </p>

Former St. Louis Performing Arts School student, returned to gun down female teacher, 61, and female student, 16, four other student shot before shooter’s gun jammed – Orlando Harris, 19, was killed when police moved to stop attack
