Report details St. Louis high school gunman Orlando Harris’ struggle with mental health before 2022 shooting
St. Louis police on Monday released a detailed report about a 2022 school shooting that left a student and teacher dead, publicly revealing for the first time the gunman’s struggle with his mental health and hospitalizations over suicide attempts.
The 456-page document also outlines concerns raised by Orlando Harris’ family and their attempts to get help.
Tanya Ward, the 19-year-old gunman’s mother, told agents that during his first two years at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School things seemed “normal.” Everything changed after the Covid pandemic, the report states, noting that Harris’ “heart wasn’t in it anymore after he went back to school after being out of school for an entire year.”
Harris graduated from the school in 2021. On Oct. 24, 2022, he allegedly opened fire at the high school, killing health teacher Jean Kuczka and 15-year-old Alexzandria Bell. Multiple other people were injured and hospitalized.
Ward told agents that her son had attempted suicide two times and contemplated it once, according to the report. The first time was in August 2021, a few weeks before he was supposed to leave for an out-of-state college, the report says. The police were called after his coworkers found a note that he allegedly left at his job.
The report further states that Harris was taken to the hospital and placed in a psychiatric facility. He was eventually released and regularly saw a therapist thereafter.
Around Thanksgiving of 2021, he allegedly contemplated suicide, according to the report. He told his therapist who then instructed Ward to have him admitted, which she did, the report states. He was released before Christmas of that year, it notes.
Harris allegedly attempted suicide again during the summer of 2022, according to the report. He was immediately hospitalized.
“After he was released from the hospital, Orlando H. advised Ward that he was not going back to the hospital and stopped contact with the therapist,” the report states.
A little over a week before the shooting, the family found out that Harris was having gun and ammunition packages delivered to the home, the report says. His mother took the packages and hid them. After his sister found out about the packages, she searched his room and found an AR-15-style rifle, according to the report.
Ward told agents that she also learned that her son attended a gun show and had been purchasing more tactical gear and firearms, the report states.
“Ward advised that with all the above information gathered, she decided to call the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Crisis Intervention Officers responded to her residence,” it says.
Officers told Ward that they could not legally take her son’s firearm. Harris allegedly got into an argument with his mother and said that he had worked hard to earn the money to purchase the weapon and wanted to keep it.
The report says that the family contacted police “because they were concerned about Orlando H.’s mental illness and felt he should not be in possession of any firearms.” The family wanted the police to take Harris’ firearm, it says.
In the end, Harris said he would appease his family by putting the gun, tactical gear and ammunition in a storage facility. His sister drove him to the facility, the report says.
Following the shooting, agents went to the storage unit and found it completely empty.
One of Harris’ sisters said, according to the report, that “she knew something was going to happen.” Another sister said that when she heard about the shooting, she thought her brother was involved but hoped it was not him, according to the report.
Other details included in the report
- His psychiatrist said he never talked about any friends he was close to
- A coworker told agents that Harris gave her a ride home from work two days before the shooting and told her that he “wasn’t coming back.” The coworker described him as “being down and suffering from depression.”
- Harris’ middle school principal described Harris as “odd” and said he wore fingerless gloves all the time and often dressed in a hooded sweatshirt
- A school security officer said that on the day of the shooting, she came face-to-face with Harris and he had a blank stare and allegedly yelled at her and cursed at her. He allegedly pointed his rifle at her and squeezed the trigger but the gun malfunctioned. She ran past him and hid in a bathroom. The report does not say if she was armed.
The report also includes an interview agents conducted with Harris’ psychiatrist Hetal Patel.
Patel said she saw Harris on two occasions in August 2022. The report states that he was referred to her after his inpatient psychiatric hospital stay for a suicide attempt
Patel described Harris as having “feelings of worthlessness” and “skewed expectations of himself,” including thoughts that he was a failure at everything, according to the report. She said he had lost interest in gaming and other hobbies in 2021.
She prescribed him medication but later learned that he did not fill it. She also tried to get him to go to psychotherapy but he refused, saying he tried it in the past and it did not work, according to the report.
During one session, Harris allegedly talked about shooting people at his old high school, the report says. He said the thought lasted “for one evening and then went away,” the report says, adding: “No planning. Didn’t want to do it and hadn’t thought about doing it since that evening.”
Patel was scheduled to see Harris in September but he never showed. On Oct. 11, staff at the clinic reached out to him but could not get in contact with him.
Authorities said Harris entered the school with a rifle in an “aggressive, violent manner” and had almost a dozen 30-round magazines on him. Officers located him eight minutes after arriving on the scene.
After a gunfight with authorities, he was taken into custody and later pronounced dead, police said.
Read the full article here
