St. Louis is not Uvalde, Texas. That’s the lesson learned this morning by a 20-year-old lunatic who forced entry to the city’s Central Visual and Performing Arts High School while armed with a long gun. Once inside, he shot a number of people, killing two.
Initial reports suggest there were seven school resource officers in the school and some helped students and staff get to safety while others ran to the sound of the gunfire. The killer took a number of rounds before ceasing his rampage. The shooter was reportedly killed.
From CBS News:
A woman and a teenage girl were killed Monday morning in a shooting inside a St. Louis high school, authorities said. The gunman was also killed in the shooting, police said, and six others were taken to hospitals with injuries.
At a news conference, Police Commissioner Michael Sack said the injuries ranged from gunshot wounds to shrapnel wounds. Sack said the gunman was about 20 years old and hasn’t been positively identified.
“This is a heartbreaking day for all of us,” Sack told reporters.
St. Louis Public Schools said on Twitter that the shooter was “quickly stopped” by police.
The shooting just after 9 a.m. at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School forced students to barricade doors and huddle in classroom corners, jump from windows and run out of the building to seek safety.
Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams said seven security guards were in the school at the time, each at an entry point of the locked building. One of the guards noticed the man was trying to get in at a locked door, but couldn’t. The guard notified school officials and ensured that police were contacted, Sack said.
“It was that timely response by that security officer, the fact that the door did cause pause for the suspect, that bought us some time,” Sack said.
A locked door delayed the bad guy’s entry into the school and the Superintendent saying that the locked door “bought them some time.” Not only that, but the fact they had multiple armed security present made all the difference in the world to the students and staff of the school.
Police are on site at Central Visual and Performing Arts this morning following reports of an active shooter and both CVPA and Collegiate are on lockdown.
The shooter was quickly stopped by police inside CVPA.
We have reports of 2 students injured and on the way to the hospital.— Saint Louis Public Schools (@SLPS_INFO) October 24, 2022
From the AP . . .
St. Louis Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams said seven security guards were in the school at the time, each at an entry point of the locked building. One of the guards noticed the man was trying to get in at a locked door, but couldn’t. The guard notified school officials and ensured that police were contacted, Sack said.
“It was that timely response by that security officer, the fact that the door did cause pause for the suspect, that bought us some time,” Sack said.
It’s truly heartbreaking that two were killed in the school, but we should sing the praises of the courageous good guys with guns who seem to have done their jobs and short-circuited this would-be murder spree quickly, apparently minimizing casualties.
While early reports ic cases such as this are usually full of bad and misinformation, it appears that a very bad situation was handled as well as it could have been.
