
UPDATED at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday with parent Ebony King's comments on principal
ST. LOUIS — Police, fire and school officials say all their work training for active shooters saved lives this week.
Security officers at the St. Louis Public Schools campus saw a man enter the building with a rifle and called police right away. Administrators warned classrooms over the loudspeaker with a code phrase. Students and teachers locked doors, turned off lights and huddled away from windows. Police and emergency crews arrived quickly, evacuated the school and found the shooter.Â
The St. Louis fire chief called it the result of a “massive amount of training.â€
The police chief said officers didn’t hesitate to storm the building.
“The drills worked,†DeAndre Davis, director of safety and security for St. Louis Public Schools, said Tuesday. “The kids worked. They did exactly what they were supposed to do. They barricaded those doors. They got away from those windows, and when it was time to evacuate, they did the best they could. They got out of that building.â€
People are also reading…
Everything went as well as it could have, all three chiefs said, given the scenario. And the reaction to their response, at least so far, stands in stark contrast to that of other recent school shootings. Police were heavily criticized in 2018 for waiting outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, while a gunman killed 17. And police struggled to coordinate a response in May this year in Uvalde, Texas, where 21 died.Â
Here, authorities say 19-year-old Orlando Harris busted a window out of a door at Central Visual and Performing Arts and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, a two-school campus at Arsenal Street and South Kingshighway near Tower Grove Park. He entered the buildings carrying an AR-15-style rifle and about 600 rounds of ammunition, police said.Â
He shot and killed two: 61-year-old Jean Kuczka, a mother of five who taught health and physical education, and sophomore Alexzandria Bell, 15, who loved art and dance, friends and staff said.
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.
But it could have been far worse, authorities said.
An outline of the building
They described a campus that locked down quickly when the shooter arrived.
Theater teacher Lauren Ogundipe said on Tuesday that the school held intruder drills frequently, at least once or twice each semester. One drill had already been held this school year. Teachers are told in advance before the drills. Administrators make announcements over the intercom using a code, she said.
“We are to barricade ourselves in our room, locked,†she said.
Ogundipe said that when some people heard the code on Monday, they assumed it was another drill. But they followed the procedure.
Davis, the security director for St. Louis Public Schools, described security officers on duty. The ones stationed at the school aren’t armed, he said — they serve as sports coaches and after-care supervisors and hope to build relationships with students.
And it was a security officer who first called police on the gunman, authorities said.
The security officers then began directing police to where the shooter was. They gave police “the outline of the building,†Davis said.
‘And yet we’re still left with tragedy’
City leaders have complimented the quick response by police officers, too.Â
“They did an outstanding job,†interim St. Louis police Chief Michael Sack said Monday evening. “I don’t know how they could have done better.â€
Throngs of officers arrived four minutes after receiving the call for an active shooter. The officers confronted the shooter eight minutes after they arrived. And police reported “suspect down†two minutes later. Some of the police officers, both on-duty and off-duty, arrived quickly because they had been attending a funeral nearby for a colleague.
Sack, Davis and Mayor Tishaura O. Jones all credited active shooter training.
Davis said police and school employees had such training about a month and a half ago and have ongoing sessions. Sack said every police officer in the department goes through active shooter training once per year.Â
The mayor mentioned other school shootings in the nation and said, “because of this grim reality, the St. Louis Police Department, St. Louis Public Schools, our charter schools and the mayor’s Office of Children, Youth and Families have been conducting frequent trainings on how to respond to emergency situations like what we experienced yesterday.â€
“Trainings and active shooter drills are essential to ensuring that they responded as quickly as they did,†Jones added.
The St. Louis Public Schools board president said Tuesday he felt a shooting, here in this city, was a matter of when, not if.
“One of the hardest things is that people keep saying the district did everything right, that the police did everything right,†Matt Davis said at a news conference at the district’s downtown headquarters. “And yet we’re still left with tragedy. A safe place, a sacred place for our childhood, and it’s been taken away from our kids in this city.
“We have got to do better.â€
Parent Ebony King lauded police but also principal Frederick Steele at Collegiate school where King's 15-year-old daughter is a sophomore.
King was texting and talking with her daughter Monday as her daughter hunkered down in a classroom as the gunman was on the loose.Â
"My daughter heard her principal clearing out the hallways," King said. "She said, 'Mom, I can hear him shutting the doors and moving the kids out of sight.' She just said she felt safe and she was OK."
King said the drills paid off.
"The police response, you know, they responded swiftly, they did an amazing job, but you've got to understand, Dr. Steele is a first responder too because he's a principal at the school and he has no weapon," King told the Post-Dispatch in an interview Wednesday morning. "He was actively going throughout the school making sure they were locked in their classrooms and out of sight."
King can't help but think of how quickly things could have gotten so much worse.
"Just think if they didn't have the drill and he didn't practice it with the students," King said. "I'm thinking that it could have went wild, like the Texas shooting, where so many kids were lost.
"Unimaginable what could have happened to our babies," King said. "So many lives were saved."
Blythe Bernhard of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Photos: Prayers said, memorial grows as St. Louis reacts to school shooting

Members of the group Pray for the Lou place hands on the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School building as they pray at the site of Monday's school shooting, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.

St. Louis Public Schools Director of Security DeAndre Davis fights back tears as SLPS captain Misty Dobynes holds hands with Central Visual and Performing Arts High School Principal Kacy Seals-Shahid, during a press conference about Monday’s school shooting, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, at the SLPS headquarters downtown.

St. Louis Public Schools Director of Security DeAndre Davis fights back tears during a press conference about Monday's school shooting at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, at the Board of Education downtown. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

"It's got to change...that find a way to get this weapons of war off of the streets and for the love of God out of our schools ," said St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education President Matt Davis, who fights back tears talking about Monday's school shooting at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School during a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, at the Board of Education downtown. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Collegiate School of Medicine & Bioscience High School sophomores Brady Grossman, left, and Xavier LaPorte present a "Thank You" cake to St. Louis police Capts. Latricia Allen and Mike Mueller at South Patrol headquarters on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. The students brought the cake to the police to thank them for their quick response to the shooting at their school on Monday. Capt. Mueller was among the a team of officers who entered the school and exchanged gunfire with the shooter to end the threat. While evacuating the building after the shooting, Brady passed by the body of Alexzandria Bell, the student who was killed in the shooting.

A photo of Alexzandria 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, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. Alexzandria and teacher Jean Kuczka were killed, along with gunman Orlando Harris, in Monday’s shooting. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Tiago DeShields, 6, looks over a photo of Alexzandria Bell, 15, who was killed in Monday morning's school shooting at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. Tiago joined his family and about 25 others with the group ‘Pray for the Lou' at the growing memorial for Bell and teacher Jean Kuczka. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

A St. Louis police officer joins a neighbor in prayer after laying flowers at a growing memorial to Central Visual & Performing Arts High School student Alexzandria Bell, 15, and teacher Jean Kuczka on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022 following Monday's shooting by suspect Orlando Harris. Harris, 20, was killed by police minutes after he entered the building. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

A memorial to Central Visual and Performing Arts High School student Alexzandria Bell, 15, and teacher Jean Kuczka grows on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, after a shooting at the school the day before.

Melissa and Greg Morrison pray with Tiago DeShields and his brother Hugo DeShields during a meeting of the group ‘Pray for the Lou' outside Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. Kurt Wilson, right, led prayer beside about 25 people for student Alexzandria Bell and teacher Jean Kuczka, who died in Monday's shooting. The suspect, Orlando Harris, was killed by police. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Kurt Wilson of Jefferson County, leads prayer with the group ‘Pray for the Lou' outside Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022 following Monday's killing of a student and teacher. “When something happens in a certain part of St. Louis, people think nobody cares,” said Wilson, who heads weekly prayer marches in the city. “We don't go to the school where you do and we don't go where you go, but we're one city.” Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

The first floor of Central Visual & Performing Arts High School is seen through the south entry doors on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022 following Monday's killing of a student and teacher. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

An open door on the first floor of Central Visual & Performing Arts High School is seen through the south entry doors on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022 following Monday's killing of a student and teacher.Â

Melissa Morrison of Gateway Legacy Christian Academy holds Tiago DeShields, 6, during a meeting of the group ‘Pray for the Lou' outside Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. Tiago's father Kenny DeShields leads the prayer of about 25 people for student Alexzandria Bell and teacher Jean Kuczka, who died in Monday's shooting. The suspect, Orlando Harris, was killed by police. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Kurt Wilson of Jefferson County, leads prayer with the group ‘Pray for the Lou' outside Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022 following Monday's killing of a student and teacher. “When something happens in a certain part of St. Louis, people think nobody cares,” said Wilson, who heads weekly prayer marches in the city. “We don't go to the school where you do and we don't go where you go, but we're one city.” Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

St. Louis Police interim Chief Michael Sack steps away from the podium to show the AR-15-style weapon used Monday by a gunman at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School.Â

St. Louis Police Interim Police Chief Michael Sack tells the press the shooter used a AR-15-style rifle and had nearly 600 rounds of ammunitions during Monday's school shooting at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, while speaking during a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, at Police Headquarters. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Mayor Tishaura Jones listens as St. Louis Police Interim Police Chief Michael Sack updates the press on Monday's school shooting at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School during a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, at Police Headquarters. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Teacher Rachel Phillippe, left, and her mother, Cara Phillippe, stop by a growing memorial on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, outside Central Visual and Performing Arts and Collegiate School of Medicine & Bioscience high schools, where student Alexzandria Bell, 15, and teacher Jean Kuczka were shot and killed on Monday. Rachel Phillippe has worked at the school as a music teacher for three years and was in class when the shooting happened.

Director of Safety and Security for St. Louis Public Schools DeAndre Davis updates the press on Monday's school shooting at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School during a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, at Police Headquarters. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com