2 Killed In Shooting At High School In St. Louis, Missouri

A woman and a teenage girl were killed Monday morning in a shooting inside a St. Louis high school, authorities said. The gunman was also killed in the shooting, police said, and six others were taken to hospitals with injuries.

At a news conference, Police Commissioner Michael Sack said the injuries ranged from gunshot wounds to shrapnel wounds.

"This is a heartbreaking day for all of us," Sack told reporters. "It's going to be tough. While on paper we might have nine victims ... we have hundreds of others. Everyone who survived here is going to take home trauma, even the officers who responded here and the firefighters and the paramedics who worked on people here are going to experience some degree of trauma."

Sack said the gunman was about 20 years old and hasn't been positively identified.

St. Louis Public Schools said on Twitter that the shooter was "quickly stopped" by police.

The shooting just after 9 a.m. at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School forced students to barricade doors and huddle in classroom corners, jump from windows and run out of the building to seek safety.

Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams said seven security guards were in the school at the time, each at an entry point of the locked building. One of the guards noticed the man was trying to get in at a locked door, but couldn't. The guard notified school officials and ensured that police were contacted, Sack said.

"It was that timely response by that security officer, the fact that the door did cause pause for the suspect, that bought us some time," Sack said.

Sack declined to say how the man eventually got inside, armed with what he described as a long gun.

Officers worked to get students out of the three-story brick building, then "ran to that gunfire, located that shooter and engaged that shooter in an exchange of gunfire," killing him, Sack said.

Sack declined to name the victims and did not say if the woman who was killed was a teacher.

One student, 16-year-old Taniya Gholston, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch she was in a room when the shooter entered.

"All I heard was two shots and he came in there with a gun," Gholston said. "And I was trying to run and I couldn't run. Me and him made eye contact but I made it out because his gun got jammed. But we saw blood on the floor."

Ninth-grader Nylah Jones told the Post-Dispatch she was in math class when the shooter fired into the room from the hallway. The shooter was unable to get into the room and banged on the door as students piled into a corner, she said.

Janay Douglas's 15-year-old daughter got stuck in a hallway when the school was locked down. Douglas said she received a call from her daughter, letting her know she had heard shots.

"One of her friends busted through the door, he was shot in the hand, and then her and her friends just took off running. The phone disconnected," Douglas said. "I was on my way."

The shooting left St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones shaken.

"Our children shouldn't have to experience this," Jones said at the news conference. "They shouldn't have to go through active shooter drills in case something happens. And unfortunately that happened today."

Parents were urged to pick up their children at Gateway STEM High School.

Central Visual and Performing Arts High School is a magnet school specializing in visual art, musical art and performing art. The district website says the school's "educational program is designed to cre­ate a nurturing environment where students receive a quality academic and artistic education that prepares them to compete successfully at the post-secondary level or perform competently in the world of work."