The 19-year-old suspect who killed a teacher and a 15-year-old student in a shooting spree at a St Louis high school on Monday had the assault rifle he used confiscated by police just days before his attack.
The St Louis police commissioner has confirmed that shortly before the school shooting, officers were called to the man’s home by his parents who were worried about him and wanted the AR-15 style rifle removed.
“The mother at the time wanted it out of the house,” the commissioner said.
A police statement obtained by the St Louis TV station KMOV records that officers took the view the teenager was lawfully permitted to possess the weapon despite substantial evidence of troubled behavior. His family told police they had arranged for the teen to be treated for mental health issues, had put him on medication and had even overseen a stay in a mental health institution.
It appears police arranged for the rifle to be taken away by a “third party known to the family”, but that the teenager took it back. It is not known how he regained possession, though St Louis police have confirmed it was the gun used in Monday’s deadly attack.
Sack said the family “made every effort that they felt that they reasonably could. I think that’s why the mother is so heartbroken over the families that paid for his episode”.
The tragedy in St Louis underlines the difficulties with implementation of so-called “red flag” laws which seek to take guns from individuals wrestling with mental health and other problems.
In June, Congress passed the first significant gun control bill in almost 30 years. It included tighter background checks on people aged 18 to 21 trying to buy guns, involving a review of mental health and juvenile records held by state and local law enforcement.
In the St Louis case, KMOV said police were called to the shooter’s house at least six times. Two of the call-outs were in July, for an accident and a suicide attempt.
“Last year, police were called to the home three times, including for something involving a weapon. Another call was for the Crisis Response Unit,” KMOV reported.
The gunman left a note before his killing spree, complaining that he led an isolated life and calling his situation the “perfect storm for a mass shooter”.
When he forced his way into the school he had more than 600 rounds of ammunition, some strapped to his chest. He killed the student, Alexandria Bell, and Jean Kuczka, 61, a PE teacher who was said to have tried to shield pupils. Seven students were wounded.
There have been 40 school shootings in the US this year resulting in injuries or deaths, according to a tracker compiled by Education Week, including the massacre at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in May in which 19 children and two teachers died.
This year’s running total is more than the figure for any entire year since the database was begun, in 2018.
