Investigations

St. Louis School Shooting: Gunman Armed with AR-15, 600 Rounds

Oct. 25, 2022

"I’ve been an isolated loner my entire life. This was the perfect storm for a mass shooter," read a passage in a notebook belonging to the man who killed two in a high school shooting, according to St. Louis police.

By Dana Rieck and Kim Bell

Source St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A photo of Alexandria Bell, 15, rests at the scene of a growing floral memorial to the victims of Monday's school shooting at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School. Bell and teacher Jean Kuczka were killed, along with gunman Orlando Harris.

ST. LOUIS — The gunman who killed a student and teacher at a south St. Louis high school before police killed him Monday had about 600 rounds of ammunition inside the school and left behind handwritten notes about being a loner with no social life, which he called the perfect storm for a mass shooting, authorities said Tuesday.

St. Louis Interim Police Chief Michael Sack read a passage to reporters Tuesday from a notebook belonging to 19-year-old Orlando Harris.

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Harris left the notebook in the car he drove to the school, Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.

“I don’t have any friends, I don’t have any family,” it read. “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.”

Harris, a former student, broke into the high school on Monday morning armed with an AR-15 rifle. Police confronted him inside the school and shot and killed him, 14 minutes after police received the first call for an “active shooter.”

The school is at Arsenal Street and South Kingshighway near Tower Grove Park. The teacher who died was 61-year-old Jean Kuczka, who taught health and physical education. Kuczka, a mother of five, lived in the Dittmer area of Jefferson County. The student who died was sophomore Alexandria Bell, 16.

Four other students were shot and injured — two in the leg, one in the arm, and one in the hands and jaw. Two more students suffered abrasions, and a girl fractured her ankle.

Sack said the note gives a glimpse into the gunman’s mind.

“He feels isolated, he feels alone,” Sack said. “Quite possibly angry and resentful of others who have, it appeared to him, to have healthy relationships, so a desire to lash out.”

Sack urged people to speak up if they notice someone who appears to be suffering from a mental illness or distress and talks about buying firearms or causing harm.

Harris, 19, graduated from the school last year. One survivor heard the shooter say he was “tired of everybody” in the school. Harris lived in the 7000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in south St. Louis. Police looking for a motive searched his home and his car on Monday afternoon.

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