Family pleads for assault rifle to be confiscated before deadly school shooting

The family of Orlando Harris asked the Missouri State Police to confiscate the 19-year-old’s body armor, ammunition and AR-15 style rifle. They knew his mental health was fragile after multiple suicide attempts. But the best officers could be useful in a state with some of the most extensive gun rights I suggest Harris keep the guns in storage.

Nine days later, Harris walked into his former high school in St. Louis and declared, “You’re all going to die.”

A new 456-page police report details efforts made by Harris’ family to try to take his gun in the days before he walked into Central High School for the Visual and Performing Arts on Oct. 24, 2022, when he killed a student and a teacher and wounded seven others before he was fatally shot by police.

Missouri is not among the 21 states with red flag laws. Red flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders, are designed to limit the purchase of guns or temporarily deny access to people who are at risk of harming themselves or someone else.

This case shows how difficult it is for law enforcement to restrict access to guns even when there are signs that something is seriously wrong.

After Army reservist killed 18 people in October 2023 in Lewiston, Maine investigation found missed opportunities to intervene in the shooter’s psychiatric crisis. And before the 14-year-old was charged with the fatal shooting this fall at his high school in Georgia.the deputy told him about the online threat, and the family warned him about “extreme emergency”.

investigation Harris’ case report shows he made his first suicide attempt in the fall of 2021, shortly before he was scheduled to leave for college. Pandemic disruptions, a friend’s murder arrest and a car accident may have all contributed to his depression, his family and former boss told investigators.

The police report does not mention that he attended college. Instead, he worked in the cafeteria at a senior care facility, where he sometimes discussed guns with co-workers.

The following August, he met with a psychiatry resident at the University of Washington and told her that he was thinking about shooting people at his old school. He said that these thoughts only lasted one evening and went away, and that there was no planning and he did not want to do it.

But soon after, Harris began the countdown to the shooting. His plans included detailed maps of the school and a plan to target teachers, students and the LGBTQ community. He also had plans to burn down his family’s house where they were staying.

The psychiatrist prescribed medications, but Harris did not write prescriptions. The report said they had developed an emergency plan.

The University of Washington did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Harris then stopped coming to meetings.

On October 8, he attempted to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer in St. Charles, Missouri, but the deal fell through. blocked through an FBI background check. The report did not explain the cause, and police did not respond to an email from the AP. The FBI just provided a list 12 reasons for refusal without any other details.

Then, on Oct. 10, Harris drove to a nearby suburb to pay a man $580 in cash for the rifle used in the shooting.

Harris’ family became even more concerned on Oct. 15 when two packages arrived from gun and ammunition suppliers. One of his sisters, Nonika Harris, opened them and found body armor, magazine holsters and magazines. She then searched his bedroom and found a rifle in an old television box.

Harris’ mother, Tanya Ward, called BJC Mental Health Services and staff there “deemed the situation an immediate threat.” They advised her to take her things to the police station and tell the officers about her son’s mental illness.

Police at the station told her they could not take the firearms because Harris was of legal age to own them. They told her she should go home and an officer would meet them there. By the time she returned, Harris was home and insisted that he keep the gun.

His mother was adamant that the gun not be in the house, so police offered a place to store it. The report says officers also advised her what steps she needed to take to have her son declared mentally unstable.

Federal law has barred some mentally ill people from buying guns since 1968, including those considered a danger to themselves or others, those committed unintentionally or found not guilty by reason of insanity or incompetence to stand trial.

The firearms and other items were eventually loaded into the trunk of Harris’ sister’s car, including a box of ammunition that arrived the next day. She later drove her brother to the warehouse, which was about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the high school.

She told police she “knew something was going to happen.”

On October 24, shots were fired as Harris entered his former high school.

It is unclear why Harris targeted the school. According to the investigative report, a security officer recalled that he was quite popular, and the elementary school principal said he was not bullied. But when he opened fire on the dance class, one student told police she heard someone shout: “I hate this school. I hate everyone.”

Mortally wounded, Alexandria Bell first ran toward the entrance before collapsing to the ground as a security officer assured the 10th-grader that help was on the way. But then she fell silent.

One class jumped out of a window to escape after their gym teacher, Jean Kuczka, 61, came between them and Harris. Kukza was killed.

Harris eventually made it to the third floor, hiding in a computer lab. The first officer to break into the laboratory had a daughter at school.

“I had a lot to lose,” the officer who was among those who opened fire recalled in a police report. After that, he wrote to his daughter: “I killed him.”

Harris’ sister told investigators that when she heard about the shooting, she drove toward the school but went home instead, waking up her mother, who was working during the night.

Harris’ mother later checked her voicemail. A message came from the hospital asking if she still needed help with her son.