St. Louis school shooting: Police ID gunman, family identifies slain teacher

ST. LOUIS — 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.

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Here are the latest updates for Monday, Oct. 24:

Shooter, 1 victim identified

Update 7:35 p.m. EDT Oct. 24: According to The Associated Press, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department identified the shooter Monday evening as Orlando Harris, 19. Harris graduated from Central Visual and Performing Arts High School last year. Police have not released a possible motive.

Harris did not have a prior criminal history, the AP reported.

In a press conference, SLMPD Chief Michael Sack identified the other victims as a 61-year-old white woman and a 16-year-old Black girl. Authorities have not yet released their names.

The woman was taken to the hospital where she later died from her injuries, Sack said. According to the AP, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch identified her as a teacher, Jean Kuczka. The girl died at the scene, according to Sack.

According to the AP, four boys and three girls ages 15 to 16 years old were injured but in stable condition. Four of the students had gunshot wounds or graze wounds, two students were bruised and one broke their ankle.

- Jessica Goodman, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Original story: Speaking at a news conference, Police Commissioner Michael Sack said the three dead included an adult, a girl and the shooter. At least seven other people were wounded.

According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, victims’ injuries ranged from “gunshot wounds, to shrapnel injuries, and cardiac arrest,” KTVI reported.

According to police, the male suspect, believed to be in his 20s, was shot inside the school and pronounced dead at an area hospital. Meanwhile, a woman died at a hospital, and a teen girl was pronounced dead inside the school. Both died of gunshot wounds, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Officers “ran to that gunfire, located that shooter and engaged that shooter in an exchange of gunfire,” killing him, Sack said.

None of the victims has been identified publicly.

As per the Post-Dispatch: “David Williams, a math teacher at the school, said the school principal came over the loudspeaker around 9 a.m. and said the code word that indicates a school shooter in the building. Williams heard multiple shots outside his classroom, and one of the windows on the classroom door was shot out. He then heard a man say, ‘You are all going to (expletive) die.’”

The shooting forced students to barricade doors and huddle in classroom corners, jump from windows and run out of the building to seek safety.

Sack declined to say how the gunman gained entry to the high school, armed with what he described as a long gun.

Central Visual and Performing Arts High School is a magnet school specializing in visual art, musical art and performing art with about 400 students. The district website says the school’s “educational program is designed to cre­ate a nurturing environment where students receive a quality academic and artistic education that prepares them to compete successfully at the post-secondary level or perform competently in the world of work.”

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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