In note, St. Louis gunman describes his life as 'perfect storm' for mass shooting


The suspect in a Monday shooting at a St. Louis high school was carrying an AR-15-style rifle and what looked to be more than 600 rounds of ammunition, The Associated Press reported Tuesday, per Police Commissioner Michael Sack. Both a teacher — physical education teacher Jean Kuczka — and a 15-year-old girl — Alexzandria Bell — were killed in the attack; seven students were injured, all of which are said to be in stable condition.
The gunman, 19-year-old Orlando Harris, left behind a note that read, in part, "I don't have any friends, I don't have any family. I've never had a girlfriend. I've never had a social life. I've been an isolated loner my entire life. This was the perfect storm for a mass shooter," per the St Louis Post-Dispatch. Police found the note in the gunman's car.
Harris was killed following an exchange of gunfire with the police. He had graduated from the school, Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, last year.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The building was locked when the gunman first attempted to get inside, AP reported. A security guard then alerted school officials and contacted the police after seeing Harris try one of the school's doors. "[T]here was no mystery about what was going to happen," Sack said. "He had [the gun] out and entered in an aggressive, violent manner." Harris still somehow managed to get inside, but Sack did not say how.
"This could have been much worse," Sack said.
Monday's school shooting marked "the 40th this year resulting in injuries or death," AP wrote, per a "tally by Education Week — the most in any year since it began tracking shootings in 2018."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Political cartoons for October 21
Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include a high-profile theft, Epstein files keeping Donald Trump up at night, Halloween costumes and scary GOP stories
-
Five things we learnt from Virginia Giuffre’s memoir
The Explainer Nobody’s Girl recounts ‘harrowing’ details of Giuffre’s suffering as a teenage victim of Jeffrey Epstein and his circle
-
Prince Andrew: a timeline of disgraced royal’s Epstein scandal
In Depth How the Queen’s favourite child went from Falklands War hero to public pariah
-
Thieves nab French crown jewels from Louvre
Speed Read A gang of thieves stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 years
Speed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Fire
speed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan church
Speed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
3 officers killed in Pennsylvania shooting
Speed Read Police did not share the identities of the officers or the slain suspect, nor the motive or the focus of the still-active investigation
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school mass
Speed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Trump lambasts crime, but his administration is cutting gun violence prevention
The Explainer The DOJ has canceled at least $500 million in public safety grants
-
Aimee Betro: the Wisconsin woman who came to Birmingham to kill
In the Spotlight US hitwoman wore a niqab in online lover's revenge plot