Gunman kills teacher and pupil in St Louis high school shooting

A teacher and a teenage girl are dead after an armed former student broke into a US high school on Monday morning and opened fire.

The gunman - identified by police as 19-year-old Orlando Harris - entered the St Louis school shortly after 9am, killing the pair and wounding seven others before police shot him dead.

Central Visual and Performing Arts High School pupils were forced barricade doors and huddle in classroom corners as they hid from the shooter.

One girl said she was eye-to-eye with Harris before his gun apparently jammed, giving her an opportunity to flee.

Speaking at a news conference, Police Commissioner Michael Sack said Harris had graduated from the school last year.

Mr Sack said the motive was still under investigation but “there's suspicions that there may be some mental illness that he's experiencing".

He added that investigators later searched Harris' home.

Authorities didn't name the victims, but the St Louis Post-Dispatch identified the teacher as Jean Kuczka.

The victim's daughter said her mother was killed when the gunman burst into her classroom and she moved between him and her students.

“My mum loved kids,” Abbey Kuczka told the newspaper. “She loved her students. I know her students looked at her like she was their mum.”

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.

Mr Sack said the second victim was a 16-year-old girl.

Seven other 15 and 16-year-olds wounded in the shooting survived. The four boys and three girls were all in stable condition, authorities said.

Of the wounds suffered by students, four were gunshots or grazes, two bruises and one individual broke their ankle.

Mr Sack declined to say how Harris was able to get into the building, which has security guards, locked doors and metal detectors.

“If there's somebody who has a will, they're going to figure out, we don't want to make it easy for them,” he said.

“We just got to do the best we can to extend that time it takes them to get into the building to buy us time to respond.”

Harris is believed to have arrived at the school wielding the gun, and police said he brought with him nearly a dozen high-capacity magazines of ammunition.

St Louis Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams said seven security guards were in the school at the time of the attack, each stationed at an entrance of the locked building.

One of the guards noticed the gunman trying unsuccessfully to get in at a locked door. The guard notified school officials, who then contacted police.

Mr Sack said the call about a shooter came in at 9.11am and that officers had neutralised Harris by 9.25am.

Monday’s school shooting was the 40th in the US this year resulting in injuries or death, according to a tally by Education Week - the most in any year since it began tracking shootings in 2018.

The deadly attacks include the killings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May, when 19 children and two teachers died.

St Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones was left shaken by the shooting, which she described as something "our children shouldn’t have to experience".

She added: “They shouldn’t have to go through active shooter drills in case something happens. And unfortunately that happened today.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said additional action is needed to stop gun violence.

“Every day that the Senate fails to send an assault weapons ban to the president’s desk or waits to take another common sense actions, is a day too late for families and communities impacted by gun violence," she said.

For the remainder of the day, the school district placed all of its schools on lockdown and cancelled all after-school activities, including sports.