ST. LOUIS — At least six people were taken to a hospital, including the suspect, Monday morning after a shooting at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School in south St. Louis.
The male suspect was captured inside the school and is in custody. Injuries ranged from gunshot wounds to cardiac arrest, but no conditions were available as of 10 a.m. Monday.
The shooting was reported after 9 a.m. at South Kingshighway and Arsenal Street.
Nylah Jones, a ninth grader at the school, said she was in math class and the shooter fired into the room from the hallway. Students piled into the corner of the room and tried not to move as the shooter banged on the door, she said.
Jones said she didn't think the situation was real when they first went into lockdown.
"Once you heard the boom," said teacher Michael De Filippo, "all the chuckling and laughing in the back of the room stopped."
Taniya Gholston, 16, said the shooter's gun eventually jammed and that she did not recognize him. She said she heard him say something about being "tired of this damn school."
Students and staff streamed from the school with hands in the air, filing up Hereford Street toward the Schnucks on Arsenal, where hundreds of evacuees gathered.
The entire area was blocked off by police, ambulances, and a SWAT van by 9:30 a.m.
The Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience is also housed in the CVPA building, which was Southwest High School for decades until 1992. At least one main entrance to the building has metal detectors.
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