The author of the shooting that this Monday ended the lives of two people in a high school in Saint Louis, Missouri, left a letter that seems to explain the reason for his attack.
The police also revealed this Wednesday that his family knew months ago that the young man had a weapon, according to the news network NBC News, and contacted the police to take it from him.
The 19-year-old former student of the attacked school, from which he graduated last year, wrote in his note:
“I don't have any friends.
I don't have any family.
I've never had a girlfriend.
I have never had a social life.
All my life I have been an isolated loner.
This was the perfect storm for a mass shooting."
Acting St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Michael Sack said the family was aware their son was suffering from mental health issues and did "everything they could have done" to help him, including getting him counseling and medication, and intern him several times.
People hug after a shooting at a high school in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 24, 2022. Courtesy Holly Edgell/NPR Midwest Newsroom / via REUTERS
Harris, who was killed by police, was armed with an AR-15-type rifle and
was carrying 600 rounds of ammunition,
police said Tuesday.
The victims were identified as Jean Kuczka, 61, a health professor, and Alexzandria Bell, 15, a student.
Seven other people were hospitalized for their injuries.
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Sack said Harris forced his way into the school, without elaborating for security reasons.
He added that his family was "aware" that he had obtained the gun, though exactly when is unclear.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the origin of the sale of the weapon.
“[The family] contacted us and said she had a firearm, I think it could have been this gun,” Sack said, “the mother wanted her out of the house, and they made it easy for her,” he added. , "how he got it later, we don't know, we are investigating."
The shooting was reported around 9:11 a.m. (local time) at the Central School of Visual and Performing Arts.
When the police arrived at the scene, they found fleeing students who informed them that there was a person shooting inside.
An AR-15 rifle, 600 ammunition and four crucial minutes: the latest details of the shooting in St. Louis
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The murderer and the police exchanged fire, until the young man was wounded and then taken to a hospital, where he later died.
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In recent years, shootings in educational centers have increased in the United States with incidents such as the one at the Sandy Hook elementary school in 2012 with 26 fatalities or the one at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, with the murder of 19 children and two teachers.
"Mental health is a difficult thing," Sack lamented, "it's difficult to know when someone is violent and is going to act out."
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