People gather outside after a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts high school in St. Louis, on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022. JORDAN OPP/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH VIA AP

St. Louis is not Uvalde, Texas. That’s the lesson learned this morning by a 20-year-old lunatic who forced entry to the city’s Central Visual and Performing Arts High School while armed with a long gun. Once inside, he shot a number of people, killing two.

Initial reports suggest there were seven school resource officers in the school and some helped students and staff get to safety while others ran to the sound of the gunfire. The killer took a number of rounds before ceasing his rampage. The shooter was reportedly killed.

From CBS News:

A woman and a teenage girl were killed Monday morning in a shooting inside a St. Louis high school, authorities said. The gunman was also killed in the shooting, police said, and six others were taken to hospitals with injuries.

At a news conference, Police Commissioner Michael Sack said the injuries ranged from gunshot wounds to shrapnel wounds. Sack said the gunman was about 20 years old and hasn’t been positively identified.

“This is a heartbreaking day for all of us,” Sack told reporters.

St. Louis Public Schools said on Twitter that the shooter was “quickly stopped” by police.

The shooting just after 9 a.m. at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School forced students to barricade doors and huddle in classroom corners, jump from windows and run out of the building to seek safety.

Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams said seven security guards were in the school at the time, each at an entry point of the locked building. One of the guards noticed the man was trying to get in at a locked door, but couldn’t. The guard notified school officials and ensured that police were contacted, Sack said.

“It was that timely response by that security officer, the fact that the door did cause pause for the suspect, that bought us some time,” Sack said.

A locked door delayed the bad guy’s entry into the school and the Superintendent saying that the locked door “bought them some time.”  Not only that, but the fact they had multiple armed security present made all the difference in the world to the students and staff of the school.

From the AP . . .

St. Louis Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams said seven security guards were in the school at the time, each at an entry point of the locked building. One of the guards noticed the man was trying to get in at a locked door, but couldn’t. The guard notified school officials and ensured that police were contacted, Sack said.

“It was that timely response by that security officer, the fact that the door did cause pause for the suspect, that bought us some time,” Sack said.

It’s truly heartbreaking that two were killed in the school, but we should sing the praises of the courageous good guys with guns who seem to have done their jobs and short-circuited this would-be murder spree quickly, apparently minimizing casualties.

While early reports ic cases such as this are usually full of bad and misinformation, it appears that a very bad situation was handled as well as it could have been.

84 COMMENTS

    • Nope. Does not fit the qualifictions for a “mass public shooting”.
      Four, or for some, three dead victims, not counting the perp.

      FBI’s standards, and CDC’s standards.
      NOT a “mass public shooting” by definition.

      • Well will certainly be labeled a school shooting and can try to pass off attempted mass shooting for the various astroturf stats. Awesome to see a door being secured and security alert on the job.

        • Agreed that it *is* a school shooting, which is already bad enough.

          But at least they put down the shooter quickly.

        • This shooter is not responsible for any of this. The blame lies with the…. gun. It’s guns! Guns make people do these things. This is the fault of gun owners, who couldn’t stop this person from doing this, gun manufacturer’s, who couldn’t stop this person from doing this, and gun culture, who couldn’t stop this person from doing this. All the phallic worshiping/rimming, gun owners. That’s the problem. So who should we punish in this situation? Gun owners, obviously. Since their hobby is more important than our dead children. Life is cheap in capitalvania. And morons prevail, shouting “freedumb!” from the rooftops adorned with moronic gadsen flags and other terroristic dumb shit.

      • LOL, you actually think anti-gun groups and anti-gun propaganda networks like “The Trace” follow the FBI definition of mass shooting? They NEVER do. That’s why according to mainstream news outlets (who mindlessly regurgitate anti-gun propaganda from “The Trace” and anti-gun groups), we had “300 mass shootings in the first six months of 2022.” By now they probably say the total is up to “500 mass shootings in 2022.” Anti-gun groups count EVERYTHING as a “mass shooting,” even if it’s two gang-bangers who shoot and injure each other with nobody killed. And when they count “school shootings,” they include (I’m totally serious) BB guns, suicides in school parking lots in the summer when school isn’t even in session, suicides in a parking lot near a FORMER school that has been CLOSED for a decade, and police officers whose gun accidentally goes off in school. All of those have been counted as “school shootings” by anti-gun groups. That’s how they get their ridiculous totals of “600 mass shootings per year and 50 school shootings per year” or something like that.

        By the way, I’m sure every Democrat politician and every anti-gun-rights zealot (but I repeat myself) in America is DISAPPOINTED that there were only two people killed in this latest school shooting. It would have made things so much easier for them to push their gun bans if the death count were 22 instead of just two.

        • Always liked how they counted drug deals gone bad within x distance of a school as a school shooting……….or afterhours of the same in the school parking lot. Connivingly consistent

        • Yup. They’ll even make a big virtue signaling show of making up their own statistics. Something like “To better highlight the issue we fave and the callousness of the cold FBI we’ve decided to count any presence of a firearm as a mass shooting even if no victims are present.”

          And they’ll be heroes.

        • “you actually think anti-gun groups and anti-gun propaganda networks like “The Trace” follow the FBI definition of mass shooting? They NEVER do.”

          well, they can’t. if you follow the fbi definition, then 2/3 of all “mass-shootings” are perpetrated by blacks – and they just won’t say that.

    • so just how did he get in?….and why wasn’t he shot immediately?….still some questions here

      • Last post I saw on the matter was that “officials” declined to release the information of how the perp got in the school. To me, the fact that he got into the school where students were is prima facie evidence of failure on the part of the school officials and the guards to ensure that there is no unlocked entrance or means to enter the building. If some school teacher for any reason, opened a door that allowed him in, that should be grounds for immediate dismissal. Unfortunately, the teachers’ union won’t allow that.

    • Well yeah that makes sense, if you shoot several people, like let’s say 5 people and none of them die that would be a mass shooting. If your definition of a mass shooting is based off of the number that are killed that means you could shoot and wound 100 people and it wouldn’t be considered a mass shooting because no one died. How dumb does that sound.

      • Makes as much sense as the CA definition of a mountain lion attack. If the ML attacks you and kills you and doesn’t eat any portion of its victim, that is a mountain lion attack. If the ML attacks and eats any portion of its vic, that is not a mountain lion attack. That is just a mountain lion doing its thing which is to attack, kill and eat various foodstuffs below its position as a prime predator. Yeah, I know. There is no statute that says rules and laws have to make sense.

  1. Rot in Hell you sick, twisted, glory-seeking a**hole.

    Glad my brothers / sisters of the badge rose to the occasion…as all sworn Officers should. Proudly they did not comport themselves like all too many Broward Cowards / Uvalde Procrastinators have in recent times.

  2. Too often the perp turns the Gun on themselves. Fortunately the perp got a taste of his own medicine and soon he will be charbroiled in hell.

    • Hard to say on that one, if the violence was sudden and decisive a handful of deaths/injuries is very difficult to prevent and details are a bit sparse at present.

    • Missouri_Mule MSED,

      I am as huge a proponent as anyone for responsible people to have the option to be legally armed outside and inside schools for righteous defense of human life.

      Having said that, I echo commenter SAFEupstateFML: an attacker who prudently applies his/her GINORMOUS advantage of surprise will ALWAYS be able to murder one or two people, if not significantly more, no matter how many defenders are armed in the attacker’s vicinity.

      And the attacker doesn’t even need a firearm to successfully murder two or more people in seconds before armed defenders can respond. An attacker with a simple bludgeon can easily deliver a single fatal strike to an unsuspecting victim’s neck or head and then immediately repeat that technique in less than two seconds on a second victim–delivering fatal strikes to two people in two seconds. And depending on exactly how that occurs, it is entirely possible (likely even) that this hypothetical attacker could deliver fatal strikes to an additional two or more people before righteous defenders in the vicinity realize what is happening and intervene.

      The bottom line: we cannot stop spree killers from murdering people in surprise attacks, even if we magically made all firearms vanish. All we can do is be ready to respond and effectively minimize the casualty count.

      • An argument could be made that it is harder to identify and notify a mass spree killing not involving a firearm. It would be difficult to know “where to run to” if you don’t hear the gunshots.

        What has been proven here recently is that 2 guys with bladed weapons did some horrible things.

        The media needs to stop following the agenda of vilifying the tool. They try it with guns, SUVs and anything else they want to ban or banish.

        The tool is a tool that needs someone to make it work (until SkyNet comes on line…then we are FUBARed).

        We need more mental health support. We need to figure out what is causing these incidents and these mindsets and fix it there. That is an uphill battle for most of us because those in powerful positions want us fighting each other and these types of incidents. If we are too busy trying not to get murdered, car jacked, robbed, raped…we have less time to see what “the wizard is doing behind the curtain”.

        • Mental health health support is fine, but we still need to be prepared to stop the one cockroach that crawls in through the cracks or walks in the front or side, bus door

      • I’m just waiting for someone to figure out how to weaponize a propane delivery truck or similar, or several acetylene bottles modified into a giant anti-personnel weapon and hit a bus area as school lets out. Not like it’s hard to do.

        Fortunately mass/attempted mass killers tend not to be very bright. You don’t see very many of them rack up high body counts when cops respond effectively because to do so against actual defenders requires a really rather rare combination of intelligence and zealotry. Most people disturbed enough to do the act lack any real intelligence in how to execute it.

        But as the Manchester bomber showed, this shit really ain’t hard. PETN is easy to make. The hardest part is making sure your glassware is clean enough that you don’t kill yourself but the answers to that are in an intro chem book.

        • strych9 When Osama bin Laden skipped out of Tora Bora (that was a legit call for tactical nukes if ever) our guys found plans for middle school terrorist attacks with stolen school buses in the US. Chechens used stolen ambulances to get through checkpoints & hit the Beslan School in 2004. The 20 year operational pause is about up.

        • I suspect that, over time, you’ll get a mix of violent randos that don’t do well and a few competent zealots with a planner to back them up on the details.

          But eventually some fucknut will figure out how to make a big pop, how to deliver it, and do so.

          Mostly, I think that “big time” guys with support will continue to target larger venues with bigger crowds. One-off nuts will go after schools and those events will continue to be heavily politicized.

          This particular shooting will likely be memory-holed for political reasons.

          https://heavy.com/news/orlando-harris/

        • “Most people disturbed enough to do the act lack any real intelligence in how to execute it.”

          then they’ll have outside help and support by those who profit from such acts.

      • well,..we sure as hell can make sure he doesn’t get thru a locked door….how was that accomplished?

    • Points well taken from you guys. The bad guys USUALLY gets to make the first move.
      I just finished 10 years working in public schools as a teacher, aid and dealing with students with behavior issues. I was disarmed by school administration stupidity every day (Missouri allows school Concealed carry with PERMISSION). Deaths were kept to 2 by prompt response by SRO’s jsut as Dr. Dietz’s modeling predicts.

      • Would never support disarming anyone trusted with a weapon and to be around kids. Unfortunately most parents/pta boards are not good with basic reasoning once emotional hot buttons get pushed.

  3. What they don’t explain is how did he gain entry if the door was locked? Was the security guard who spotted him armed? If so, why didn’t he immediately take down the shooter? I’m sure the narrative will change over time, but just curious.

    • I imagine more details will slowly come out as the media continues to spin it as something that justifies taking guns away from normal people and slowly objective reporting allows the facts to be presented.

    • Parnell,

      It is entirely possible that the attacker murdered two people OUTSIDE the school as those victims were trying to make their way inside the school.

      The other possibility is that the attacker simply went to another door and “drafted” someone entering that door.

      Or, even more plausible: the attacker went to the official entry door where school staff initially buzzed him in.

    • Unfortunately, there are still a TON of schools with all glass doors and those are not bullet proof. Shatter resistant or tempered safety glass maybe. Beyond that, it would not be too hard for the intruder to shoot out the lock or the hinges.

      • We support protecting kids so long as it involves taking away your guns and paying our people for the nonprofit groups and besides improving actual security for kids really doesn’t protect them and just makes everyone feel less safe…………Just getting a jump on the translation of whatever word salad comes out to explain how this one turned out vs others.

    • Reportedly, shooter broke through bottom glass panel of two-panel door, apparently without security wire in glass panels. SROs were unarmed, called police. These events average one body per minute of response time.

    • Well, I haven’t seen much explanation yet, but let us remember that windows are so easy to break. In fact, sometimes windows are broken entirely by accident. A man with a long gun will have little trouble using that long gun to smash out a window.

  4. Another thought to ponder: What high school from hell requires SEVEN ARMED SRO’s. This alone makes me think there’s some kind of crazy going on in that school. 20 year-old male assaults this school without any reported connection. At least, apparently these SRO’s, did a great job at evacuating the school and searched, contacted and stopped the shooter.

    • “This alone makes me think there’s some kind of crazy going on in that school“

      Wow, victim blaming already, that sure was fast.

      • I’m ” victim blaming”!? Read the 2nd sentence again, slowly. What victim(s)? In a sense the school is a victim. Since when have you, anyone, heard of a school REQUIRING seven (7!) armed security guards? Apparently these security guards did what sworn officers, at Uvalde and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas did not do, they ran TOWARDS the gunfire!. Also, do to its absence methinks it was the security guards who caused the gunman to reach room temperature, before the police arrived. These guards were not any form of Paul Blart, they were saviors, and true HEROS!One small thing, the newsies mentioned there being a “long gun” used in the incident, not some form of, shudder, an assault weapon. I hope, hope, hope that these HEROES are shown the respect due them.

      • Leave it to Miner49er to take something out of context to make yet another stupid, ignorant, and inane point.

        I don’t think he will ever learn to read.

    • That jumped out at me as well. The school – formed in 1853 – currently has an annual enrollment of only 400 students, with an average 14:1 student-teacher ratio. The institution is geared toward gifted students, so there may be a funded budget to include a higher security presence.

    • From the story it sounds like they were unarmed security, not officers, and they notified school admin and police when he tried to get through the door. Then police showed up quickly and rather than hanging out for a couple hours they went in and engaged the shooter.

      • Note: Paragraph just before the tweet: “…but the fact they had multiple armed security present made all the difference in the world to the students and staff of the school.”

    • The SROs were not armed. They are the staff that man the metal detectors at the two doors that are used for student entry.

  5. It was a teacher and student that passed besides the shooter. I live in Stl and while this was on the Southside the police ran in with no hesitation which protected more lives. One life is too many but I advocate for armed staff and security.

    • “the police ran in with no hesitation”

      since columbine that is supposed to be the standard immediate action.

  6. CNN is reporting the shooter made it to the 3rd floor before the responding Tactical Officers confronted him.

    And that the WH has demanded the Senate pass Bidens assault weapons ban. As expected.

    • StL news reports the weapon was a “long gun.” Must not have been an AR or the Left’s propaganda arm….er, news media….would have been all over that.

  7. Shitty but rather unsurprising at this point. I fully expect to see a lot more of this behavior before things get better.

    I’m not really sure why anyone wouldn’t expect a serious spike in this sort of thing. Anyone passingly familiar with history and basic psyche should know that the last couple of years were almost designed to produce a glut of violence and that the current policy trajectory is pretty much exactly what you’d do if you wanted to continue to escalate this shit.

  8. i want to see pictures of the perp
    full of bullet holes
    and his eyes half shut
    and his tongue hanging out
    plastered all over the front of the school
    with a caption that says
    ” this is what happens to school shooters around here”

    • How about a PSA that refers to school shooters as LOSERS.

      And Damnatio Memori. You the perp become an an unperson. Almost every official record of you is sealed and archived. There will be a you shaped hole in the world. You effectively cease to exist. Cancel culture taken to its limits.

      • they do this because they want to create outrage…and cause pain…find a way to keep them outside and frustrate them…then leave him to the cops..

  9. Huh. That’s weird because a bunch of ‘very smart people’ told me that it’s impossible to lock doors and make schools secure and that bringing guns in just makes things more dangerous.

    but this incident almost makes me think that a school district and police who have their shit together CAN actually do their job

  10. In a college psych class the prof told us about a small remote town in the Dakotas or Montana area. They had problems with teens shooting up the schools and each other. Finally they paid the way for a highly trained psychiatrist to come help stop the shootings. The towns folk felt like they had “Tried everything” but the shooting continued. The prof spent several months there and among his suggestions was to stop the press coverage by the local radio and tv stations. The shootings dwindled down and stopped without the headlines!

  11. Missouri is already talking more gunm control.
    I just cant figure it out, its always the gunms fault?
    I suppose drunk drivers should blame the cars for the wrecks.

    • I haven’t seen this and I live in st.louis. people make me sick on both sides politicizing every damn school shooting. Politics don’t matter at all in this situation. Hell everyone wants their children safe, just different ways to make sure they’re safe and there isn’t just one thing we can do but multiple. Also, the shooter shot out the glass to gain entry.

      • glass?…there’s your first clue Sherlock….why do people think it is bulletproof?…although there are ways to make it bullet resistant

    • “I just cant figure it out”

      it’s not hard. it’s not about guns, or crime, or safety. it’s about control – a certain set of people controlling everyone else, and using any fact/lie/story to gain that control. that’s all it is, or ever is.

  12. Unfortunately Uvalde Texas and Broward County Florida have shown that if criminals want to try, they can get away with it. It’s unfortunate that no police officer was willing to stop these killers. Now they know they actually have a fighting chance. To inflict death before they are killed.

  13. I’ll be happy when I see a video of a potential shooter stuck outside and screaming in frustration because he can’t get in….

  14. SEvem rESOURCE OFFICERS/ WHat are RESOURCE OFFICERS? DOes this mean thatv therea are SEVEN DEDICATED armed personnel in thisschool? If so what do they cost per annum . I’d reckon not less than $US500k. How many scholars and who, pays the bill ?.

    With so many RESOURCE OFFFICERS how the hell did some nutcase with a BLOODY RIFLE get into the place at all?? Prevention always trumps Cure.

    Even in the UK where we do not have a gun worshipping culture [which country has??} it would be difficult to carry a RIFLE into a school without being seen and all schools has extensive CCTV monitoring. Mainly to stop the little buggers shooting up. [Only joking ]

  15. Sorry, the resource officers were unarmed. The police responded within 4 minutes of the call and they shot the intruder, who likely forced his way in through a door. You may be trying to make a case for armed resource officers, but they were not in this case armed.

  16. “The killer took a number of rounds before ceasing his rampage.”

    It sounds like the cops carried 9mm….

  17. The shooters in these school shootings are children who were probably in some CIA style operation where they were in programs in which they were taking Ritalin along with having 1 hour sessions a week, with a counselor during their time in these programs. The young people in these operations were programmed to be Manchurian candidates and activated when needed to perform acts of violence against our children. I worked for a Catholic Church program for young men in San Antonio Texas and the group of young men I took care of were 4 boys who had to take Ritalin and take 1 hour counseling a week to stay in the program. I once asked one of the boys what happened in the sessions and he said it was a bunch of orders given to them while in a relaxed state and listening to the counselor’s voice. No telling what the counselor was putting into the young men’s minds as they were in a suggestive state. We must stop the use of drugs on our children and stop the conditioning of our young men to later commit acts of violence which they have been programmed to do.

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