St. Louis school shooter was flagged in FBI background check but was still able to legally purchase a gun, police say - CNN

CNN  — 

The gunman who killed 2 radical and wounded respective others successful a schoolhouse shooting successful St. Louis, Missouri, connected Monday was flagged by an FBI inheritance cheque but was inactive capable to acquisition the AR-15-style firearm helium utilized successful the onslaught from a backstage seller, constabulary said.

When 19-year-old Orlando Harris archetypal tried to acquisition a weapon from a licensed dealer, the inheritance cheque blocked the sale, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Sgt. Charles Wall said Thursday. But Harris could inactive legally bargain the firearm from a backstage idiosyncratic who had bought the firearm from a licensed trader successful 2020, Wall said.

Harris’s household had been worried astir his intelligence health, truthful erstwhile his parent recovered the firearm successful their home, the household contacted police, authorities said.

Missouri does not person a alleged “red emblem law” which would let constabulary to confiscate a person’s weapon if they are astatine hazard of causing harm to themselves oregon others. So St. Louis constabulary arranged for Harris’s firearm to beryllium fixed to “a 3rd enactment known to the family” truthful it could beryllium stored extracurricular the home, constabulary said successful a connection to CNN affiliate KMOV.

Yet somehow, erstwhile the teen forced his mode into the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School connected Monday morning, helium had the firearm backmost successful his hands.

Armed with the high-powered firearm and an arsenal of implicit 600 rounds of ammunition and much than a twelve high-capacity magazines, the shooter opened occurrence into the hallways of the school, which helium had conscionable graduated from past year.

As students and teachers scrambled to fastener and barricade doors and instrumentality shelter, helium continued his rampage, fatally shooting talented pupil Alexandria Bell, 15, and beloved teacher Jean Kuczka, 61, and wounding aggregate others.

Within minutes, officers had arrived astatine the schoolhouse and rapidly engaged the shooter successful a gunfight, according to St. Louis Police Commissioner Michael Sack. Harris was aboriginal pronounced dormant astatine a section hospital.

Police are moving to find however the shooter regained possession of the rifle, Sack said Wednesday.

School officials were fixed entree to the bullet-riddled gathering connected Tuesday, but it could beryllium weeks oregon months earlier students are brought backmost to the Central Visual and Performing Arts and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience precocious schools, which stock a campus, St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams said Tuesday.

“Obviously with the kinds of things that happened successful our building, we request to marque definite that the gathering is acceptable to person students and unit and the community, arsenic well,” Adams said. He noted counseling services are disposable for students and staff.

The onslaught connected the St. Louis precocious schoolhouse is astatine slightest the 67th shooting to hap connected American schoolhouse grounds this year, marking different devastating infinitesimal successful the increasing world of weapon unit against students and educators.

Witnesses of the shooting picture a horrifying country successful which the schoolhouse learned determination was an progressive shooter successful the gathering done a coded connection announced implicit the intercom.

As soon arsenic past teacher Kristie Faulstich heard the announcement, she knew what to do.

“I instantly but calmly went to fastener my doorway and crook disconnected the lights. I past turned to my kids and told everyone to get successful the corner,” she said.

Teachers and instrumentality enforcement person applauded however students conducted themselves during the attack.

“We’ve had teenagers and athletes – they don’t ever perceive – but connected Monday they definite did,” Sack said Wednesday. “They did what their teachers instructed them to do, they bash what the officers instructed them to do, contempt the information that you tin spot that galore of them were traumatized. You tin spot their faces, you tin work successful their eyes.”

“I perfectly commend my students for their response,” Faulstich said. “Even successful the moments erstwhile they were proceeding gunfire going connected each astir they stood quiescent and I cognize they did it to support each different safe.”

Several students escaped the gathering by leaping from windows, students and teachers person said.

There were 7 information unit astatine the schoolhouse erstwhile the gunman arrived, but helium did not participate the gathering done a checkpoint wherever information guards were stationed and alternatively had to unit his mode in, according to DeAndre Davis, manager of information and information for Saint Louis Public Schools.

Police officers arrived astatine the school wrong 4 minutes of the progressive shooter being reported, according to Sack, who has repeatedly credited swift instrumentality enforcement response, locked doors and grooming for preventing further deaths.

“The information that it takes this level of effect to halt a shooting similar this due to the fact that radical person entree to these weapons of warfare and tin bring them into our schools tin ne'er beryllium normal,” said St. Louis Board of Education President Matt Davis.

The schoolhouse territory has been moving to adhd weapon information to the curriculum, Superintendent Adams said astatine a property league Tuesday.

“The weapon information initiative, rather frankly, was a program enactment unneurotic to effort to code the benignant of issues that hap extracurricular of our schoolhouse district, extracurricular of our schoolhouse buildings, successful presumption of the fig of students who person been changeable successful the metropolis of St. Louis, and that die, rather frankly, arsenic a effect of incidents that happened extracurricular of the schoolhouse environment,” Adams said.

“Never did I deliberation I would beryllium lasting present contiguous having a speech astir a unit (member) and a student” being shot, Adams said, pausing to support composure arsenic his dependable began to break.