The weapon used was removed from the suspect’s home
The weapon used by a former student who opened fire Monday at a St. Louis high school had previously been removed from his home at the request of his mother, authorities said.
On October 15, more than a week before a teacher and student were killed in the shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, St. Louis police received a “domestic disturbance” call at the home of the suspect, according to a ministry statement on Wednesday.
The suspect’s mother found an AR-15 type rifle in the family home and contacted St. Louis police to have it removed, Acting St. Louis Police Commissioner Michael Sack. said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Police “determined at that time that the suspect was legally entitled to possess the firearm,” the statement said. The family worked with police to transfer the weapon to a third party known to the family, Sack said.
The firearm that was removed was the same one used in Monday’s shooting that left two people dead and seven injured, police confirmed in the statement.
“The mom wanted him out of the house, so they made it easy,” Sack said. “…How he acquired it after that, we don’t know. We’re looking into that.”
While the alleged shooter’s family was “aware” that he obtained the gun, it was unclear when or how he obtained it, Sack said, adding that the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco , Firearms and Explosives was investigating the sale of weapons. Police have identified the suspect as 19-year-old Orlando Harris.
Family is cooperating with investigation, police official says
The suspect’s mother “cooperated fully” with the investigation into the shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School and is “heartbroken for the families involved in this incident, for the school and for the former students,” said Sack Wednesday.
An investigator who interviewed the mother and her adult daughter on Wednesday said the family were aware of the suspect’s mental health issues and “appear to have done everything they could have done to try to help him”, including by monitoring his mail and putting him back in therapy. and on medication, Sack said.
PREVIOUS UPDATES:New details emerge after St. Louis high school shooting leaves 2 dead, 7 injured
Threats rise after shooting
St. Louis-area schools have seen an increase in post-shooting threats, a common occurrence after school shootings, said Jay Greenberg, special agent in charge of the St. Louis FBI Field Office, during the the press conference.
Greenberg said such threats are “usually easy to investigate” and police are able to quickly find out who is making them. But due to the volume of threats, authorities have increased police presence at schools in the St. Louis metro area as a precaution.
While Greenberg said he doesn’t believe there are any credible threats at this time, he worries they “will lead to further trauma for our students.”
Who were the victims?
Officials and family members identified the victims as Barbara Kuczka, 61, and Alexzandria Bell, 15.
Kuczka, a health teacher at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, realized she wanted to be a high school teacher when she taught swimming lessons at the YMCA, according to her teacher’s biography on the website. school.
Kuczka graduated in 1979 from Lindbergh High School in St. Louis, where she was a field hockey star, and attended Southwest Missouri State University, now known as Missouri State, on a field hockey scholarship, according to the biography.
Kuczka lived in Dittmer, Missouri with her husband. She had five children and seven grandchildren.
Alexzandria was looking forward to a trip to Los Angeles to celebrate her Sweet 16 before her death, her father, Andre Bell, told CNN affiliate KSDK.
Her father said Alexandria was a member of the Saint Louis Dazzling Diamonds dance group. She was funny, cheerful and always made life better for others, he said.
“No matter how I felt, I could always talk to him, and it was fine,” Bell said. “That was my baby.”
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
USA Today
