A 19-year-old 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, a police official has said.
The shooter, identified as Orlando Harris, also left behind a handwritten note offering his explanation for the shooting on Monday at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, St Louis Police Commissioner Michael Sack told reporters.
Tenth-grader Alexzandria Bell and 61-year-old physical education teacher Jean Kuczka died and seven students were wounded before police killed Harris in an exchange of gunfire.
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On Tuesday, Sack read Harris' note in which the young man lamented that he had no friends, no family, no girlfriend, and a life of isolation. Harris called it the 'perfect storm for a mass shooter'.
Sack said Harris had ammunition strapped to his chest and in a bag, and that additional magazines were found dumped in stairwells.
Harris graduated from the school last year. 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."
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The seven injured students are all 15 or 16 years old. 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. All were listed in stable condition.
It was the 40th school shooting this year resulting in injuries or death, according to a tally by Education Week - the most in any year since it began tracking shootings in 2018. The deadly attacks include the killings of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May.
