ST. LOUIS — Tears streamed down Andre Bell's face when he got the heartbreaking telephone call Monday morning.
"It's a nightmare," Bell said.
His 15-year-old daughter Alexzandria Bell had been shot and killed in her classroom at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in south St. Louis.
"My daughter's mother called me and that's how I found out. I didn't initially think the call was real," Bell said.
The young girl's adopted father lives in Los Angeles.
Hours after the shooting, Bell did an exclusive interview with 5 On Your Side's Robert Townsend.
"Alexzandria was my everything. She was joyful, wonderful and just a great person," he said.
Alexzandria was a 10th grader at Central VPA.
Bell said she had an outgoing personality, loved to dance and was a member of her high school's junior varsity dance team.
"She was the girl I loved to see and loved to hear from. No matter how I felt, I could always talk to her and it was alright. That was my baby," Andre Bell said
Alexzandria's health teacher, 61-year-old Jean Kuczka, was also killed in the shooting.
The beloved teacher worked for St. Louis Public Schools for 20 years.
"I am so upset. I need somebody, police, community folks, somebody to make this make sense," said Bell.
That from a grieving dad who has many questions about the deadly shooting that took his daughter's life, one month before her 16th birthday.
"I really want to know how did that man get inside the school? I'm just trying to find some answers. My daughter was planning on coming out here to California and celebrate her birthday with me on Nov. 18, but now we have to plan her funeral," said Bell
Editor's note: We previously reported Andre Bell was Alexzandria Bell's father. We have clarified our story to say he is Alexzandria's adopted father.