The gunman in the deadly St Louis, Missouri, school shooting has been identified as 19-year-old Orlando Harris.
Harris entered the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School (CVPA) in St Louis City on Monday morning and opened fire, killing a teacher and a student and wounding several others, according to police.
Gunfire broke out between Harris and the St Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the gunman was killed.
Police say that Harris graduated from the school last year. According to KMOV, Harris didn’t appear to have a significant presence on social media.
The authorities said Harris had a dozen of high-capacity magazines as well as a long gun.
Harris left ‘manifesto’ with list of school shooters and their death tolls
Harris left a note in his car with a list of other school shootings in the US, with the names of the gunmen and the number of killed people, and expressed his desire to be the next name on it.
He also had a map of the school in his car and laid out his attack in detail ahead of time, authorities announced at a Tuesday press conference.
The note included details concerning how Harris obtained the weapon used in the attack – an AR-15-style rifle - revealing that he bought it from a private dealer after being rejected at a gun show in St Charles County.
The interim chief of the St Louis police department Michael Sack read from the note during the press conference a day after Harris allegedly shot eight people - killing two - at the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in south St Louis, Missouri, on Monday morning.
“I don’t have any friends. I don’t have any family. I’ve never had a girlfriend. I’ve never had a social life. I’ve been an isolated loner my entire life,” Harris wrote.
“This was the perfect storm for a mass shooter.”
Suspicions of mental illness
Mr Sack told reporters that “there are suspicions that there may have been some mental illness that he was experiencing. We’re working on developing that information right now”.
Police have said Harris didn’t have a previous criminal history.
Investigators found the gunman’s car and searched it for evidence.
“I know there is some evidence that was taken out,” Mr Sack said.
Family had attempted to remove Harris’ firearm from the home
During a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Sack revealed that Harris’ family was aware he had purchased a weapon. They had worked along with law enforcement to give it to somebody who could legally own it— it is unclear if that is the firearm that Harris used in the violence on Monday.
At times, Mr Sack said, concerned family members would check his mail and go through his belongings to make sure he was not a threat.
“They were engaged, in tune to him,” Mr Sack said. “Everything that they possibly could have done [was done], but sometimes that’s not enough.”
Mr Sack said the family is cooperating with the investigation.
Harris’ school life at Central VPA
Central VPA’s theatre director Lauren Ogundipe remembered Harris as a friendly student.
“He would laugh and joke with members of his graduating class,” Ms Ogundipe told the St Louis Post-Dispatch. “ He would talk with different teachers, he would talk about his school life. He didn’t really talk about his home life. He would talk about girls he was interested in.”
Ms Ogundipe added that Harris was always willing to help in theatre productions and stage management, and that “if something needed to be moved physically ...he would show up on his own without being asked.”
Suspect said he was ‘sick of this damn school’
David Williams, a math teacher at the school, told the St Louis Post-Dispatch that the school principal came over the loudspeaker around 9am and said the code word for an active shooter being in the building.
Mr Williams told the outlet he 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 f***ing die”.
Taniya Gholston, 16, a student at CVPA, told The St Louis Post-Dispatch that she did not recognise the gunman and escaped when his gun jammed. She told the newspaper that she heard him say something about being “sick of this damn school”.
Dance teacher Raymond Parks told The Post-Dispatch Harris was dressed in all-black clothing and that he pointed his firearm at him but didn’t shoot.
Evidence removed from home by FBI
The suspect is thought to have lived in a neighbourhood in the south of the city. Evidence, including a computer, could be seen being removed from a home in the area by the FBI.
A woman at the residence was seen seemingly cooperating with the authorities but it remains unclear if she’s related to Harris, KOMV reported.
Student heard gunman say he was ‘tired of everybody’
A student told the St Louis Post-Dispatch that she heard the gunman say that he was “tired of everybody” at CVPA.
St Louis police Chief Michael Sack told the press that the doors were locked, the metal detectors were working, and there were seven security officers present.
The police chief said that officers shot and killed the suspect on the building’s third floor.
A student told KMOV 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?”
Another student, 16-year-old Taniya Gholston, recounted the moments of fear as she made eye contact with the gunman.
‘I made it out because his gun got jammed’
“All I heard was two shots and he came in there with a gun,” Ms Gholston told the St Louis Post-Dispatch. “And I was trying to run and I couldn’t run. Me and him made eye contact but I made it out because his gun got jammed. But we saw blood on the floor.”
