Families of victims react to video of police outside CVPA shooter’s home days before deadly school massacre

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (First Alert 4) – The families of the victims of a fatal shooting at a South City high school are demanding change after a First Alert investigation released video showing police rushing to the shooter’s home days before the attack because his family wanted to take away his gun.

On October 24, 2022, 19-year-old Orlando Harris shot his way into the shared campus of Central Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) and the Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience (CSMB), killing health and physical education teacher Jean Kuczka and 15-year-old student Alexzandria Bell, known as Alex to those who love her.

First Alert 4 Investigates discovered the bodycam video after months of trying to obtain it through public requests. The video is the most comprehensive information police have released in the nearly two years since the shooting, but questions remain about whether more could have been done to prevent the tragedy.

“I can’t see her at prom, I can’t see her having kids. I can’t see her getting married. I can’t see any of that,” Alexzandria Bell’s mother Keisha Acres told First Alert 4 Investigates. “She didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

Acres says police never showed her the body camera video of the incident.

Jean Kuczka’s family said the police did not show them the video either.

“We tried to get information, but it was pretty difficult to get information about what happened,” said Jean Kuczka’s son Joe Kuczka.

Joe Kuczka says his mother died standing between the shooter and her students.

“She cared deeply about her students and her family. For better or worse, she should have been there that day and we know she saved lives. She told the students to jump out the window and get away from there, away from the shooter,” said Joe Kuczka.

The call to police came nine days before the shooting. Investigators say the gun in question is the same one Harris used in the school shooting.

“He only killed two people, but it could have been a lot worse,” said Joe Kuczka.

Investigators say Harris has mental health issues. Reports from First Alert 4 Investigates revealed that police were called to his home multiple times, including for a suicide attempt and a disturbance involving a weapon.

“I think the officers should have asked more questions when they got there,” Joe Kuczka said.

Days before calling officers, investigators said, Harris tried to buy a gun from a licensed dealer in St. Charles, but was caught on an FBI background check. Investigators did not say what the reason for the check was.

First Alert 4 Investigates learned that St. Louis police were notified by the FBI that Harris had been tagged, but officers who responded to the call were unaware of it. St. Louis police told First Alert that they still could not pick up the gun because Harris had purchased it legally and there was no law in Missouri prohibiting him from owning the gun.

“They couldn’t have taken the weapon with them, that would not be legal. They had no reason to take the weapon with them,” Lt. Col. Michael Sack said in an interview with First Alert 4.

Sack is leading the department’s investigation into the shooting and was acting police chief at the time of the shooting.

Sack argues that under Missouri law, police officers can take away a gun from a person the court deems “mentally incompetent,” meaning that the person is legally incapable of making his or her own decisions.

Missouri does not have red flag laws that allow for quick confiscation of weapons when someone is in danger of harming themselves or others.

“Are the laws in their current form sufficient to provide an appropriate level of protection to the community? If we are concerned about a particular person and their mental well-being, what does that look like? Where is the threshold? That is something for the politicians,” Sack said..

First Alarm 4 They addressed these questions to Missouri Governor Mike Parson.

“I think we have already created the conditions necessary for this,” said Parson.

The governor has a different view of the law than the St. Louis police.

Both families who lost their loved ones have the same attitude towards the weapon.

“Do I think they should have accepted it without question? Absolutely,” said Keisha Acres.

“That probably should have been taken away,” Joe Kuzcka said.

For this reason, the families want more transparency surrounding the shooting and want to know what lessons can be learned to hopefully prevent another tragedy.

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