A 16-year-old girl and a 61-year-old woman were killed by a gunman in a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday morning, according to authorities.
Seven other victims, all 15 or 16 years old, were hospitalized with injuries including gunshot wounds, police said. All were currently listed in stable condition, according to police.
The suspect also died, according to the St. Louis Public School District and St. Louis police. Orlando Harris, 19, a recent high school graduate, was named by police as the suspect.
Police stated Monday that Harris has no criminal past and that they are investigating a possible motivation after receiving "suspicions that he may have been experiencing some mental illness."
Michael Sack, the chief of police in St. Louis, said, "The person had over a dozen 30-round, high-capacity magazines with him, so things could have been much worse. So there are quite a few victims there."
According to authorities, the shooting was reported at around 9:10 a.m. local time. Police claimed that as the pupils left the building, they reported seeing a man with a long pistol.
Although police emphasised that the school's doors were closed, authorities did not specify how the shooter entered the structure.
"Getting guns is really simple," Sack claimed. I've stated it before, but Missouri's gun laws are quite lax. They may carry guns openly along any street, and there isn't much we can do about it.
Tishaura Jones, the mayor of St. Louis, claimed to have visited pupils at the start of the academic year.
"They had bushy tails and brilliant eyes. We sang, danced, and laughed. And now that I'm here, witnessing such a tragic and painful event, it hurts my heart, "She remarked. "I feel terrible for the parents whose kids attend our schools in the hope that they would be protected. This shouldn't happen to our children."
"I'm confident that everyone engaged will have to deal with the anguish that will echo across our community," the mayor continued.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to a question about the shooting by saying, "We need greater measures to stop the scourge of gun violence."
"Every day that the Senate delays to take... additional commonsense reforms, or fails to get an assault weapons ban to the president's desk, is a day too late for our families and communities affected by gun violence," she told reporters.
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