Investigators find note from gunman after US school shooting
UPDATE
In the aftermath of the horrific shooting at a US school on Monday, investigators have found a handwritten note from the gunman. The gunman, 19 year old Orlando Harris, killed two people and injured seven others at the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis on Monday. Harris ended up being shot dead in a gunfight with the police.
Orlando was a former student at the school. According to St. Louis police Commissioner Michael Sack, investigators found a handwritten note that read…
“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. This was the perfect storm for a mass shooter.”
One teacher remembered Harris as friendly and outgoing with teachers and fellow students, St. Louis Dispatch reported. The teacher said that Harris worked backstage in theatre productions, where he was helpful to others. The teacher noted that Harris did not talk about his home life.
The two women who the gunman killed were student Alexzandria Bell, and health teacher Jean Kuczka, who died heroically protecting her students.
Alexandria’s father Andre Bell told CNN that Alexzandria had been looking forward to her sweet 16. He described losing his daughter as “a nightmare.” School principal Kacy Seals-Shahid said that Alex was both a serious student as well as popular.
Health teacher 61 year old Jean Kuczka died shielding students from the gunman. Seals-Shahid said that Kuczka was devoted to her students, and commuted more than 40 miles each day.
In Kuczka’s school biography, Kuczka wrote that she loved teaching health and physical education, and “guiding students to make wise decisions.” Kuczka’s daughter has called her mother a hero, and her loved ones have said they are determined to carry on her legacy.
Meanwhile, the world awaits as more details on the horrific shooting unfold.
ORIGINAL STORY
There’s been another horrific school shooting in the US, this time in the city of St. Louis in Missouri state. The gunman attacked the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School yesterday morning, killing two people and injuring seven, according to the latest updates.
The two people killed were 16 year old student Alexandria Bell, and a health teacher identified as Jean Kuczka.
Police arrived on the scene to find hundreds of students running out of the school. The city’s police chief commissioner said the shooter had a “long gun.” Police exchanged gunfire with the gunman who was struck down by a bullet. He later died at the hospital.
The police identified the suspect as 19 year old Orlando Harris, a graduate of the school. The chief commissioner, Mike Sack, said Harris had no prior criminal history.
One survivor, a 16 year old girl, told reporters that she had made eye contact with the shooter, and she heard him saying he was “tired of this damn school.” A math teacher, David Williams, said he heard shots outside his classroom and one of the windows on the classroom door was shattered. He heard the gunman say, “You are all going to (expletive) die.”
The school’s community is now reeling in the aftermath of the shooting. Sack said that everyone who survived is “going to take home the trauma.”
According to the media outlet Education Week, there have been 40 US school shootings this year that resulted in injuries or deaths. There have been 132 such shootings since 2018.
