ST. LOUIS — The investigation into the 2022 shooting at a St. Louis high school was closed, police announced Friday.
The October 24, 2022, shooting at Central Visual Performing Arts High School left student Alexzandria Bell and teacher Jean Kuczka dead. Police killed the shooter, 19-year-old Orlando Harris.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department held a news conference Monday morning at 11 a.m. with Chief Robert Tracy, City of St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and other leaders from St. Louis Public Schools and the police department.
In the conference, Major Janice Bockstruck of the department’s force investigative unit, said her investigators compiled a 700-page report on the shooting. She said the police department will release two videos on Wednesday connected to the investigation.
The videos that will be released in accordance with Missouri’s sunshine law include a nine-minute video that includes the audio of the initial 911 call and video that tracks Harris' movement throughout the school. The second video is two minutes of body camera footage showing an officer arriving at the school, running to the third floor with fellow officers and getting into a shootout with Harris.
Bockstruck said the nine-minute video shows the actions of unarmed security personnel who tracked Harris' movement and never left the school.
"In this video, you will see unarmed security officers who are true heroes," she said.
The police department said responding officers, students in the district and family members of the victims and suspect were given a chance to see the video before it is released to the public. The leaders said the video was retraumatizing for those who chose to view the video. The police department and school district said they have provided mental health support for those groups.
Bockstruck said the full, 700-page report on the shooting would be released but it could take weeks to complete redactions.
When asked why the department is releasing the video this week, Lt. Col. Michael Sack, who was acting chief at the time of the shooting, said they were waiting to complete the investigation.
"The time it takes to complete an investigation is dependent on the scope of the investigation," Sack said.
He said investigators spoke with a half a dozen responding officers and hundreds of witnesses in and around the school, combed through evidence from the entire school building and the surrounding blocks and watched hours of body-camera footage.
Matt Davis, the vice president of the SLPS board, said the district has looked into ways to make the school safer, including making changes to the architecture of the building.
Davis said that both before and after the shooting, the SLPS policy is to not arm resource officers stationed inside schools. Davis said that policy remains in place and was informed by expert advice from the FBI after the shooting took place.
Davis said the district has an armed unit of 20 officers called the mobile reserve that goes between the schools where necessary.
Police department leaders said they will evaluate requests for other videos from the investigation on a case-by-case basis.