Four other students were shot and injured — two in the leg, one in the arm, and one in the hands and jaw. Two more students suffered abrasions, and a girl fractured her ankle.
Interim St. Louis police Commissioner Michael Sack said Monday evening that he was "extremely proud" of the police response. The call for an active shooter came in at 9:11 a.m., and the shooter was shot 14 minutes later on the school's third floor. He said a security officer saw the man trying to enter the building, and police were alerted.
"This could have been much worse," Sack said.
Sack refused to say how the gunman got into the building but said all doors were locked. The building has metal detectors and seven security officers.
Sack said the gunman had no criminal history.
There are two magnet high schools on the campus — Central Visual and Performing Arts, with about 400 students, and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, with about 300 students.
David Williams, a math teacher at the school, said the school principal came over the loudspeaker around 9 a.m. and said the code phrase that indicates a shooter in the building. Williams heard multiple shots outside his classroom, and one of the windows on the classroom door was shot out. He then heard a man say, "You are all going to (expletive) die."
Police haven't said how many shots were fired inside the school.
Elijah Pohlman, a 15-year-old sophomore, said it was chaos when the code came over the loudspeaker. He said he texted his parents that he loved them, then heard four gunshots and took off running. He said he almost ran into a body in the hallway on his way out.
"I don't even know how to deal with it," he said later. "I'm scared."
Raymond J. Parks, a dance teacher at the school, said he was about to teach a ballet class when he saw the shooter wearing all black with a long gun out of the corner of his eye. Parks said the man pointed the gun at him but did not fire for some reason.
Taniya Gholston, 16, was in the dance class when the shooting started.
"He said like, 'I'm tired of this damn school,' and, 'I'm tired of everybody in this damn school,'" she said.
Taniya said the shooter's gun eventually jammed and that she was able to run for safety.
Ranaiyah Cole was in the dance class too, stretching, when she heard a gunshot.
"We hid in a corner behind a mat," said Ranaiyah, 16.
Once the gunman ran off, Ranaiyah and her classmates darted out of the school and to a vacant Walgreens building.
Nylah Jones, a ninth grader at the school, said she was in math class when the shooter fired into the room from the hallway but could not get into the classroom. Students piled into the corner of the room and tried not to move as the shooter banged on the door, she said.
Ryane Owens, 18, a senior at CVPA, said students "thought it was a drill at first. Then we heard noises."
"Once you heard the boom," said teacher Michael De Filippo, "all the chuckling and laughing in the back of the room stopped."
Taniya Lumpkin was in speech and debate class at the time. She said a staff member told them to close and lock the door as they do for an intruder drill, but they "didn't know if it was real or not."
"Next thing you know, we just heard gunshots," Taniya said. First single shots rang out, then multiple, then single again, she said.
Ja'miah Hampton, 16, was in vocal class on the fourth floor of the building when she heard gunshots on the third floor.
"I heard one big one, and then there were so many I stopped counting," she said. "I'm confused why people are so cruel."
By 9:30 a.m., the area around the school was blocked off by police, ambulances and a SWAT van. Students and staff streamed from the buildings with hands in the air, filing up Hereford Street toward the Schnucks grocery store on Arsenal, where hundreds of evacuees gathered.
There, students and their parents reconnected, hugging and crying.
One boy was consoling his mother.
"I'm glad it's over. My friends are alive. It's OK, Mom. It's OK, I'm here," he said.
Earlier Monday, Mayor Jones and Rep. Cori Bush spoke at the first news conference of the day.
"It's so unfair," Jones said, choking up. "I'm heartbroken for these families. Our children shouldn't have to experience this."
Bush said it is vital to get help if you need it in the shooting's aftermath: "If you don't know who to talk to, you can call our office," she said. "It's OK to not be OK."
In Washington, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the shooting with reporters: "In the wake of Newtown, Parkland, Buffalo, Uvalde and countless other shootings in communities across the country, we need additional action to stop the scourge of gun violence," calling on the U.S. Senate to approve an assault weapons ban and take "other commonsense actions."
St. Louis Public Schools announced late Monday evening that classes will be canceled Tuesday at Central Visual and Performing Arts and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience high schools in the wake of Monday's shooting.
CVPA was Southwest High School for decades until 1992.
Steph Kukuljan and Katie Kull of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this story.
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