CNN
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A teen and an adult were killed in a shooting at the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis. St. Louis Police Chief Michael Sack said Monday morning.
He said police located the gunman, who was shot and killed in the exchange of fire. Sack said he was later pronounced dead. Police previously said the gunman had been taken into custody.
Authorities did not immediately identify the victim or the shooter, but Sack said at a news conference that the victims were a woman who was pronounced dead at the hospital and a teenage girl who was killed at the scene. He said the shooter was a man who appeared to be about 20 years old.
Eight victims were taken to area hospitals, the commissioner said. News of the shooting came via social media.
Sack said police were at the scene within minutes and spoke with the student who described the attacker as carrying a “long gun.”
Sack wouldn’t say how the gunman got into the school, but said the school’s doors were locked, delaying the suspects and buying time for responders.
“Security did an excellent job of identifying the suspect’s entry and immediately notified the rest of the staff and made sure we were contacted,” Sack said.
St. The St. Louis Police Metropolitan Police Department reported the active shooter on Twitter, and about 45 minutes later, tweeted, “At this time, the scene is safe and there are no active threats.”
The school district was damaged following Monday’s shooting, it said in a statement. CVPA and two neighboring schools were evacuated to a unified location, and all schools in the area will remain on lockdown for the rest of the day. St. Louis Public Schools said.
said on the phone, Math teacher David Williams said the gunfire erupted shortly after 9 a.m. (10 a.m. ET), and everyone went into “drill mode,” turning off lights, locking doors and huddling in corners so they could out of sight.
The door slammed and it shook, he said. “Someone tried to open the door,” Williams said.
Sirens appeared in the distance before Williams heard three shots, he said. He recalled that an adult voice could be heard screaming, “You’re all dying.”
Soon after, a bullet went through a window in his classroom, Williams said.
The gunfire picked up the pace, he said.
He said it was around that time that officers from the tactical team arrived – a large crowd, in good order – before another round of gunshots erupted before Williams heard a woman announcing she was a police officer.
Williams and the students ran to an emergency exit, he said, adding that the ordeal lasted about 40 minutes.
Sack said police engaged the gunman on the third floor where Williams’ classroom is located.
stone. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner said many people responded by being trained to help others avoid harm.
“The situation is still developing and we will learn more in the coming days, but one thing is clear, the lockdown procedure – St. Petersburg. As this attack unfolds, St. Louis Public Schools administrators, Central Vision and Performance Teachers and students at the High School of the Arts, as well as first responders — were critical in preventing further violence,” Gardner said.
The high school of about 400 students is a magnet school about 6 miles southwest of downtown.
The district said students were being evacuated from campus to a “safe and secure location.” People were asked to avoid the area, and parents were told they could pick up their children at Gateway Stem High School, about a mile and a half north of CVPA.
News of the shooting came on the same day Michigan admitted to Ethan Crumbley that four people were killed and seven injured in a Michigan school shooting last year. On November 1, Nicolas Cruz will be sentenced for the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida that killed 17 people.
As an investigator, St. The St. Louis shooting is unfolding, and Michigan prosecutors address the country’s gun violence problem after Crabley pleads guilty.
“It’s not just shared with other departments. Gun violence is preventable. That’s what I’ve learned, and it doesn’t surprise me that there’s another school shooting — it’s horrible,” Oakland County prosecutor Karen MacDonald said. “It’s preventable and we should never let this be something we should live with.”
At a news conference at the White House, press secretary Carine Jean-Pierre asked Congress to act to pass an assault weapons ban.
“Our sympathies go out to all those affected by today’s senseless violence, especially those injured and killed, their families and first responders,” she said. “We need to take additional action to stop gun violence. scourge.
“Every day the Senate fails to send an assault weapons ban to the president’s desk, or waits to take another – other common-sense action too late for our families and communities affected by gun violence.”
FBI St. The St. Louis field office is assisting local law enforcement in responding to the shooting, spokeswoman Rebecca Wu said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in Kansas City, Missouri, is also providing assistance, spokesman John Hamm said in a statement.