Oct. 24 (UPI) — Three people including a gunman are dead after a shooting at a high school Monday morning in St. Louis.
Police received a call at 9:10 a.m. CDT, notifying them about an active shooter situation at the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School in the city’s Northampton neighborhood.
“Officers arrived within a couple minutes of the call going out. They immediately made entry into the school. As kids were fleeing out of the building, they talked to some of the kids who told them there was a shooter armed with a long gun,” St. Louis Police Department Interim Commissioner Mike Sack told reporters outside the school.
“Upon hearing that gunfire, they ran to the gunfire, located the shooter and engaged that shooter in an exchange of gunfire. The suspect was struck and transported from this location and the suspect has since been pronounced deceased.”
An adult female victim was taken to the hospital but later died from her injuries. A teenage female was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police are not identifying the two victims or their relationship to the school until their family members are notified.
A total of eight people were transported to hospitals, including the suspect and adult female who died.
Students were later reunited with family members at a nearby school.
“The others who were injured suffered a variety of injuries, from shrapnel injuries to gunshots. They’re currently being treated as their condition changes,” Sack told reporters.
No officers were injured.
The suspect’s name hasn’t been released yet, nor do police know about what if any relationship he had with staff, students or the school.
“The suspect appears to be about 20 years of age, we haven’t positively identified him yet,” Sack told reporters.
Bomb-sniffing dogs and tactical officers have now cleared the building and there is no further risk to the public.
Sack praised the job of the responding officers and said the fact the school was locked, improved the outcome.
“The fact that the door did cause a pause for the suspect, it bought us some time,” Sack told reporters.
“The school was closed and the doors were locked. The security staff did an outstanding job identifying the suspect’s efforts to enter and immediately notifying other staff and making sure we were contacted.”
Officials would not elaborate on how the suspect was able to gain entry to the school, which has around 400 students.
“We’re not going to talk about how the suspect got in,” Sack said.
Investigators will begin interviewing all students who were present, but that likely won’t happen until Tuesday.
“We do need to get the information from the kids who were in the building so we can talk to them. We do need to identify who was in the building and where they were at, that’s very important,” Sack told reporters.
