A devoted teacher and a 15-year-old student have been identified as the two fatal victims in the high school shooting in St Louis.
Jean Kirk Kuzcka, 61, who taught physical education at Central VPA High School, was gunned down by the shooter during the violence on Monday morning. The second victim, 15-year-old Alexandra Bell, was in dance class when the gunman – later identified as former student Orlando Harris, 19, who was killed by police – shot her dead.
Ms Kuzcka, who commuted one hour to work every day from her home in Dittmer, was fondly remembered by some of her former students.
“She was a great teacher, very fair, very honest to all her students,” Jasmine Wooten, who graduated from Central VPA in 2011, told The Independent about Ms Kuzcka. “She was a mentor to me. She was very supportive of me well into adulthood. If I needed anything as an adult, recommendation letters or words of support. If I had any life accomplishment, she would be the first one to ... support me.”
Alexandria’s father, Andre Bell, recounted learning about his daughter’s death and thinking it was a nightmare.
“My daughter’s mother called me and that’s how I found out. I didn’t initially think the call was real,” Mr Bell said told local news station KSDK. “Alexandria was my everything. She was joyful, wonderful and just a great person.”
The tenth grader’s mother also shared a harrowing message on social media, saying that at the time of the violence, Alexandria “was just dancing. Her passion, not running the streets or skipping school. She was in class, and she still wasn’t safe.”
Moments after the shooting, Keisha Acres also shared on Facebook that she had not been able to communicate with her daughter and school officials could not locate her.
Eight people were transported to a hospital after the shooting on Monday, including the shooter and Ms Kuczka, who were both pronounced deceased after medical intervention. Alexandria died at the scene, St Louis Metropolitan Police said during a press conference hours after the attack.
According to Ms Kuczka’s daughter, Abigail Kuczka, the veteran health and physical education teacher stood between the gunman and her students to shield them after the suspect entered Room 323.
“My mom loved kids,” Abigail Kuczka told the St Louis Post-Dispatch. “She loved her students. I know her students looked at her like she was their mom because a lot of them didn’t have a good home life.”
In her school biography, Ms Kuzcka had written that she didn’t imagine herself in any career other than education and that she believed “every child is a unique human being and deserves a chance to learn.” She had been a teacher at the performing arts high school since 2008.
“This was her first year of empty-nesting, and she was looking for something extra to do,” Abigail Kuczka told the Post-Dispatch. “She was definitely looking forward to retirement though. She was close.”
Ms Kuzcka is survived by her husband, five children and seven grandchildren. Every year, Ms Kuzckak participated in the JDRF’s Ride to Cure, an event that raises money to find a cure for juvenile diabetes.
Ms Kuczka, whose 29-year-old son was diagnosed with the disease when he was 10, had raised $7,000 for the cause this year.
Mr Bell, who was Alexandria’s adoptive father, remembered her as an extroverted and fun girl who loved her family and friends.
“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,” Mr Bell told KSDK holding back tears. “I am so upset. I need somebody, police, community folks, somebody to make this make sense.”
Mr Bell told the outlet that Alexandria was planning to visit him in California for her 16th birthday next month, plans that now carry the painful reminder of her death.
“I really want to know how did that man get inside the school? I’m just trying to find some answers,” he added.
According to authorities, the school was locked and seven security guards were working when the gunman started the violence. It is unclear how the former student at Central VPA gained access inside, but witnesses recall hearing him say he was tired of the school.
A student also told KMOV-TV that they were in a dance class when a male with a “long gun” stormed inside the room and asked, “Are you ready to die?”
Harris left a note in his car with a list of other school shootings in the US, with the names of the shooters and the number of killed people. He also said in the note that he wanted to be the next national school shooter.
The 19-year-old also had a map of the school in his car and laid out his attack in detail ahead of time, according to KSDK.
The local news outlet also reported that the note included details concerning how Harris obtained the weapon used in the attack – an AR-15. He had enough ammunition to kill hundreds.
“The individual had almost a dozen 30-round … high-capacity magazines on him. That’s a whole lot of victims there,” interim chief of the St Louis police department Michael Sack said, according to CNN.
