Why schools are being targeted in US? Case of high school shooting in St. Louis Missouri
A shooting at a high school in St. Louis, Missouri, has left at least three people dead, including the suspect, and seven more hurt.
On Monday, shortly after 9:00 local time (13:00 GMT), the shooter entered Central Visual & Performing Arts High School. It was unclear how the guy got inside the school because the doors were shut.
The gunman’s pistol jammed mid-attack, according to witnesses, and police “immediately halted” him, according to St Louis Public Schools. The culprit, a former pupil who was 19 years old, shot at cops before eventually dying from his wounds.
It is unclear what motivated him to target the school, which has roughly 400 children. According to police reports to the local media, one adult died in the hospital and a teenage girl was declared dead within the school.
According to local media, all seven injured—three girls and four boys had non-life-threatening wounds. According to the city’s police commissioner Michael Sack, when authorities arrived and reported that the attacker had a “long gun,” students were fleeing the school.
Why schools are being targeted in US? Case of high school shooting in St. Louis Missouri
He claimed that the seven security guards stationed there took swift action to alert other employees and call the police. The shooter was discovered to be carrying about a dozen high-capacity magazines filled with hundreds of rounds, Mr. Sack subsequently said, adding, “This might have been much worse.”
We are all experiencing a heartbreaking day, he continued. The probe is being assisted by FBI agents. One student said to the local television station KMOV that the assailant had approached a friend and asked, “You ready to die?”. “We just fled really, really fast,” Raven Terry recalled, “and we were just crying, all freaked up by it.” Taniya Gholston, 16, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the shooter had tried to shoot her in her classroom.
She added, “I tried to run, but I couldn’t run. We exchanged looks, but I managed to get away because his rifle jammed. I’m tired of this damn school, the assailant was overheard saying, according to the witness. The shooter, according to the police, graduated from the institution last year and had no prior criminal activity.
Family members of one of the victims named Jean Kuczka, a health instructor. According to an online biography, Kuczka, 61, had been a teacher at the school since 2008. She was also the grandmother of seven children.
Abigail Kuczka, her daughter, told the Post-Dispatch that “my mom loved kids” and said that she had passed away defending her pupils. According to reports, the victims’ injuries include gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds, and cardiac arrest.
At a press conference following the shooting, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said, “Our children shouldn’t have to witness this.”
“They shouldn’t have to practise for active shooter situations just in case. And, regrettably, it occurred today.”
According to data from the Education Week publication, this year has already seen at least 35 school shootings in which at least one person has been killed or injured. Following a shooting rampage at his high school in November of last year, a youngster in Michigan entered a guilty plea to 24 crimes, including terrorism and first-degree murder.
