Forty-eight hours after a shooter killed two people and injured several others at a St. Louis high school, investigators painted a picture of a mother that tried to intervene in every way against an attack she had no way of anticipating.
This intervention included having police take the gun that was eventually used in Monday's shooting out of the family's home.
Editor's note: The video above was published before police provided more information in an update Wednesday night.
"They made every effort that they felt that they reasonably could. But I think that is why the mother is so heartbroken over the families that paid for his episode," Interim Police Chief Michael Sack said.
Taking the podium, Sack said the shooter's family has been cooperating with investigators, telling them about all the ways they tried to do right by their son, yet unaware of what he was planning.
The shooting left a teacher and a student dead and four other students with gunshot wounds.
The victims who lost their lives were identified as 15-year-old Alexzandria Bell and 61-year-old Jean Kuczka.
5 On Your Side is limiting our use of the shooter's name and photo. Multiple sources tell 5 On Your Side's Christine Byers that the suspect left a note behind in his car with a list of school shootings across the country, indicating he wanted to be the next national school shooter.
Sack said family members were aware of the 19-year-old gunman's mental health issues. They worked with health professionals to get him treatment, even having him committed "on some occasions."
They searched his room, checked his gun, and even called the police when they realized he had a firearm.
"The officers, in their response, handed it over to somebody else: an adult who was lawfully able to possess it. The mother at the time wanted it out of the house. So they facilitated that, and this other party had it. How he acquired it after that, we don’t know," Sack said.
Police said that interaction was just nine days before Monday's shooting. Police said they responded to a domestic disturbance at around 5 p.m. on Oct. 15 at the family's home.
"Officers responded and determined at that time the suspect was lawfully permitted to possess the firearm," a statement from police said Wednesday night. "A third party known to the family was contacted and took possession of the firearm so that it would no longer be stored in the home."
The updated information from police Wedneday night confirmed that the gun taken from the home was the AR-15 that was used in the Monday shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.
"We want to reiterate that the family of the suspect are cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation," the statement said. "Based on the information known to investigators at this time, it appears the family was doing everything they could to get the suspect the help that he needed and that this tragic incident occurred despite their best efforts."
Though his family worried about the shooter's mental health, Sack says the suspect left a notebook in his car that said his family didn't know what he was planning.
"I remember reading that nobody really knows," Sack said, trying to recall the suspect's words, paraphrasing them as "they can’t tell that I’m doing this and getting ready."
Sack said they have forwarded the serial number of the gun used Monday to federal investigators to determine how it made its way to the suspect's hands.