The gunman who shot and killed a teacher and student at a St Louis school has been identified as former pupil Orlando Harris, say authorities.
Harris, 19, of St Louis, was himself fatally shot by responding police officers at the city’s Central VPA High School, on Monday morning.
One student told The St Louis Post-Dispatch that she heard the gunman, who she did not recognise, say he was “tired of everybody” at the school.
Sixteen-year-old student Alexis Bell was pronounced dead at the scene, while 61-year-old teacher Jean Kirk Kuzcka was shot and died later in hospital.
Four students were shot and injured, two in the leg, one in the arm, and one in the hands and jaw. One girl suffered a fractured ankle and two other students sustained abrasions.
Relatives told The St Louis Post-Dispatch that Kuczka, 61, was a health and physical education teacher who lived in Dittmer, Missouri.
“My mom loved kids,” her daughter Abigail Kuczka told the newspaper.
“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.”
St Louis police Chief Michael Sack told reporters that all doors at the school were locked on Monday morning, the metal detectors were active and there were seven security officers on site.
The police chief said that officers shot and killed the suspect on the building’s third floor.
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?”
Another student, 16-year-old Taniya Gholston, recounted the moments of fear as she made eye contact with the gunman.
“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.”
St Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said at the scene that it was “heartbreaking” for her to witness “as a mother.”
“My son [called and] said, ‘Mommy, you sound stressed.’ I’m stressed and I’m heartbroken. Heartbroken for these families who send their children to school hoping they [are] safe,” she said.
Disturbing videos and images from the scene show law enforcement helping students come out of the building and escape the violence.
