Further details are coming to light regarding the fatal tragedy that took place in St. Louis, Missouri on Monday (October 24), CNN reports.
It's now known that the gunman – who killed both a student and a teacher before later dying himself – was a 19-year-old graduate of Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. When he visited yesterday, he brought with him an AR-15-style rifle and over 600 rounds of ammunition plus more than a dozen high-capacity magazines.
Orlando Harris succumbed to the injuries he obtained during a gun battle with officers later in hospital, though investigators have since found a chilling note in the vehicle he drove to the crime scene.
"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," he wrote. "I’ve been an isolated loner my entire life. This was the perfect storm for a mass shooter."
Taking into account the amount of ammo Harris brought with him, the police chief noted that things could have been "much worse" and credited both locked doors and a quick police response as things that prevented more deaths from occurring.
The two people who lost their lives in the tragedy were 61-year-old educator Jean Kuczka (who is said to have died while protecting her students) and 15-year-old Alexandria Bell, who was looking forward to her upcoming Sweet 16, according to her father, Andre Bell.
"It’s a nightmare," he told the press of his family's unexpected loss. "I am so upset. I need somebody – police, community folks, somebody – to make this make sense."
As CNN notes, this is at least the 67th school shooting to have taken place in 2022 so far, and just a few days before, a Michigan prosecutor heard a guilty plea from a teen who killed four students in a similar crime last fall.
Oakland Country Prosecutor Karen McDonald said, "The fact that there is another school shooting does not surprise me – which is horrific. We need to keep the public and inform the public … on how we can prevent gun violence. It is preventable, and we should never ever allow that to be something we just should have to live with."
Hear what else police discovered in Orlando Harris' chilling letter in the video below. RIP Jean and Alexandria.
[Via]