Orlando Harris’ family has pleaded with police in Missouri to confiscate the 19-year-old’s body armor, ammunition and AR-15 rifle. They knew his mental health was fragile after more than one suicide attempt. But the best thing officers can do in a state with some of the most expansive gun rights is to suggest Harris keep the weapon in a storage unit.

Nine days later, Harris walked into his old high school in St. Louis and declared, “You’re all going to die.” »

A new 456-page police report details efforts by Harris’ family to try to take his gun away from him in the days before he entered Central Visual Arts and Performing Arts High School on Oct. 24, 2022, when he killed a student and a teacher and injured seven others before being shot dead by police.

Missouri is not one of 21 states with an alert law. Also known as extreme risk protection orders, alert laws aim to restrict the purchase of firearms or temporarily remove them from people who may harm themselves or someone else. other.

This case shows how difficult it is for law enforcement to restrict access to guns, even when there are indications that something is seriously wrong.

After an Army reservist killed 18 people in October 2023 in Lewiston, Maine, an investigation found missed opportunities to intervene in the shooter’s psychiatric crisis. And before a 14-year-old was charged in a fatal shooting this fall at his Georgia high school, a deputy told him about an online threat and his family warned of an “extreme emergency.”

The investigative report in Harris’ case shows the first suicide attempt occurred in fall 2021, just before she was scheduled to leave for college. Pandemic-related disruptions, a friend’s arrest in a homicide and a car crash may have contributed to his depression, his family and former boss told investigators.

The police report makes no mention of his college education. Instead, he worked in the cafeteria of a senior facility, where he sometimes discussed guns with his co-workers.

The following August, he met with a psychiatry resident at the University of Washington and told her he was considering shooting people at his old school. He said those thoughts only lasted one evening and then they were gone, there was no planning and he didn’t want to do it.

But soon after, Harris began a countdown to the shooting. His plans included detailed maps of the school and a plan targeting teachers, students and the LGBTQ community. He also planned to burn down his family’s home with them inside.

The psychiatrist prescribed medication, but Harris did not fill the prescriptions. The report says they developed an emergency plan.

The University of Washington did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Harris then stopped showing up for appointments.

On October 8, he attempted to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer in St. Charles, Missouri, but the transaction was blocked by an FBI background check. The report does not explain why, and police did not respond to an email from the AP. The FBI simply provided a list of 12 reasons for refusal, without any other details.

Then, on October 10, Harris went to a nearby suburb to pay a man $580 in cash for the rifle used in the shooting.

Harris’ family became even more concerned on October 15, when two packages arrived from gun and ammunition suppliers. One of his sisters, Noneeka Harris, opened them and found a bulletproof vest, magazine cases and magazines. She then searched his room and found the rifle in an old television box.

Harris’ mother, Tanya Ward, called BJC mental health services and staff “deemed the situation an immediate threat.” They advised her to take the items to the police department and tell the officers about her son’s mental illness.

Police at the station told her they couldn’t take the gun because Harris was of legal age to possess it. They said she should go home and an officer would meet them there. By the time she returned, Harris was home and insisted he keep the gun.

His mother insisted the gun not be in the house, so police suggested a storage unit. The report said the officers also advised her on what steps she needed to take to have her son deemed mentally unstable.

Federal law has prohibited certain people with mental illnesses from purchasing firearms since 1968, including those considered a danger to themselves or others, who have been involuntarily committed, or found not guilty by reason of insanity or unfit to stand trial.

Eventually, the gun and other items were loaded into the trunk of Harris’ sister’s vehicle, including a box of ammunition that arrived the next day. She then drove her brother to a warehouse about 5 miles from the school.

She told police she “knew something was going to happen.”

On October 24, shots rang out as Harris entered his old high school.

It’s unclear why Harris targeted the school. A security guard recalled him as being quite popular, and the principal of his elementary school said he had not been bullied, according to the investigation report. But as he shot up a dance class, a student told police she heard someone shout, “I hate this school.” I hate everyone.

Mortally injured, Alexzandria Bell first ran towards the entrance before collapsing to the ground, a security guard reassuring the 10th grader that help was on the way. But then she shut up.

A class jumped out of a window to escape after their physical education teacher, Jean Kuczka, 61, placed himself between them and Harris. Kuckza was killed.

Harris eventually made his way to the third floor, hiding in a computer lab. The first officer to enter the laboratory had a daughter at school.

“I had everything to lose,” the police officer, who was among those who opened fire, recalled in the police report. He then texted his daughter, telling her: “I killed him. »

Harris’ sister told investigators that when she heard about the shooting, she started driving toward the school, but then returned home, waking her mother who had worked the night.

Harris’ mother then checked his voicemail. A hospital sent her a message asking if she still needed help for her son.

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