At least three people were killed and six others were injured following a shooting at the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School in south St. Louis. Following the shooting Monday morning injuries ranged from gunshot wounds to cardiac arrest, with a woman dying at the hospital, a teenage girl pronounced dead in the school, and the suspect shot in the school but later pronounced dead at a hospital. The school, which was locked down Monday morning before the shooting and even had seven security workers on site, is now saying they do not know how this happened. They also have yet to release information about the 20-year-old suspect who at around 9 a.m. opened fire in the school.
“David Williams, a math teacher at the school, said the school principal came over the loudspeaker around 9 a.m. and said the code phrase that indicates a school shooter in the building. Williams heard multiple shots outside his classroom, and one of the windows on the classroom door was shot out. He then heard a man say, “You are all going to (expletive) die.”
Many teachers and students have come forward saying they were unsure as to what was happening, one student mentioned they thought that it was a drill before realizing it was all real. While another student was told to start the drill procedures, leading students in her class to think it was a drill.
By 9:30 a.m. the entire area surrounding the school was blocked off by police as police, ambulances, and a SWAT team was present.
While it is unclear as to what happened in the incident, many parents have come forward to commend the police response.
Read more at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
