Locked Doors, 7 Guards Fail To Stop Gunman From Killing 2 People At St. Louis School

Guns. It’s the damn guns.

The doors were locked. Seven security guards were on duty. Yet a gunman was still able to enter the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School in south St. Louis . Once inside, he shot and killed a teenage girl and a health teacher. Seven others were injured.

 According to KCRA, the attack began just after 9 a.m. and forced students to barricade doors and huddle in the corners of their classrooms. Some students jumped from windows and fled the building. Police confronted and fatally shot the 19-year-old suspect, who graduated from the school last year. Survivors reportedly heard the gunman say he was "tired of everybody” there.

There’s no known motive at present. The killer had no criminal record and while there’s the usual speculation about “mental illness,” he was still able to easily acquire weapons of mass death.

The carnage could’ve been even greater, but the killer’s semiautomatic rifle jammed, which gave kids a chance to escape. This includes 16-year-old Taniya Gholston. She describes hearing two shots before the gunman came into the room.

“I was trying to run, but I couldn’t run,” she said, as if in a nightmare that was all too real. “Me and him made eye contact, and I’m glad I made it out because his gun got jammed. But we saw blood on the floor. I think somebody got shot."

“The shooter’s gun jammed and 16-year-old Taniya Gholston made it out from Central Visual Performing Arts school. @stltoday”

— Kim Bell (@Kim Bell) 1666623922 

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    The teacher shot to death was identified as Jean Kuczka. The 61-year-old physical education teacher had worked at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School since 2008. This is the message from her school biography page:  

I cannot imagine myself in any other career but teaching. In high school, I taught swimming lessons at the YMCA. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I believe that every child is a unique human being and deserves a chance to learn. I also believe that Health is the most awesome subject in school, because, without your health, you cannot live to your fullest potential. I love teaching Health and Physical Education and guiding students to make wise decisions. Respect is my favorite word!

Kuczka immediately protected her students, putting herself in front of the gunman who shouted, “You’re all gonna die.” This is a common theme in school shootings. Republicans smear educators as “groomers" who “indoctrinate” students or otherwise make them hate themselves, but even when facing certain death, teachers always shield their students first. They are true heroes.

Kuczka’s daughter, Abigail, said, "My mom loved kids. She loved her students. I know her students looked at her like she was their mom.”

Police Chief Michael Sack believes this could’ve been “much worse,” which is a damning yet true statement about our gun culture. The killer had a dozen high-capacity magazines of ammunition and his gun was drawn as soon as he entered the school. But how did he get into the building in the first place? Locked doors were Ted Cruz’s proposed magic bullet for gun violence — instead of getting rid of guns and bullets. We present this clip so you never forget.

“Sen. Ted Cruz at Robb Elementary school today. Sharing his thoughts on the shooting”

— Simone De Alba (@Simone De Alba) 1653518192 

Sack has no solution to the locked-door mystery, but he said, "If there's somebody who has a will, they're going to figure out, we don't want to make it easy for them. 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.”

The police weren’t repulsively incompetent like the cops in Uvalde, Texas. Sack said he’s “extremely proud” of their response. An active shooter was reported at 9: 11 am and, after an exchange of gunfire, the killer was down 14 minutes later. Unfortunately, two people are dead, seven others injured, and another community is devastated.

[ St. Louis Today / KCRA ]

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