Report Details: Orlando Harris, St. High School Gunman Louis, struggled with mental health before the 2022 shooting

Police in St. Louis published a detailed report on Monday 2022 school shooting that killed a student and a teacherpublicly revealing for the first time the killer’s struggles with mental health and hospitalizations due to suicide attempts.

The 456-page document also outlines concerns raised by Orlando Harris’ family and their attempts to get help.

Tanya Ward, the 19-year-old gunman’s mother, told agents that everything seemed “normal” during his first two years at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. The report states that everything has changed since the Covid pandemic, noting that Harris’s “heart was no longer in it since he returned to school after a full year away.”

Harris will graduate in 2021. On October 24, 2022, he allegedly opened fire at the high school, killing health teacher Jean Kuczka and 15-year-old Alexzandria Bell. Many other people were injured and taken to hospital.

The report shows that Ward told agents that her son had attempted suicide twice and had considered suicide once. The report shows it first occurred in August 2021, weeks before he was scheduled to go to college out of state. The police were called after his co-workers found a note he allegedly left at work.

The report further states that Harris was taken to the hospital and placed in a psychiatric facility. He was eventually released and has since been seeing a therapist regularly.

The report states that around Thanksgiving in 2021, he allegedly contemplated suicide. The report states that he told his therapist about this, who then instructed Ward to take him in, which he did. As he notes, he was fired before Christmas this year.

The report shows that Harris attempted suicide again in the summer of 2022. He was immediately taken to hospital.

“Upon discharge from the hospital, Orlando H. informed Ward that he was not returning to the hospital and had cut off contact with his therapist,” the report said.

The report states that just over a week before the shooting, the family learned that Harris had been delivering packages of weapons and ammunition to the home. His mother took the packages and hid them. When his sister found out about the packages, she searched his room and found an AR-15-style rifleAccording to the report.

Ward told agents she also learned her son had been at a gun show and was purchasing more tactical equipment and firearms, according to the report.

“Ward advised that after gathering all of the above information, she decided to call the St. Patrick Metropolitan Police Department. Louis. Crisis intervention officers visited her place of residence,” we read in the report.

The officers told Ward they couldn’t legally take the gun from her son. Harris allegedly argued with his mother and said he had worked hard to earn money to buy the gun and wanted to keep it.

The report states that the family contacted police “because they were concerned about Orlando H.’s mental illness and believed he should not possess any firearms.” The family wanted police to take Harris’ firearm.

Finally, Harris said he would reassure the family by placing weapons, tactical equipment and ammunition in storage. The report states that his sister drove him to the facility.

After the shooting, agents went to the warehouse and found it completely empty.

The report states that one of the Harris sisters stated that she “knew something was going to happen.” Another sister said that when she heard about the shooting, she thought her brother was involved but hoped it wasn’t him, according to the report.

The report also included an interview agents conducted with Harris’ psychiatrist, Hetal Patel.

Patel said she saw Harris twice in August 2022. The report shows that he was referred to her after a stay in a psychiatric hospital due to a suicide attempt

The report said Patel described Harris as having “feelings of worthlessness” and “distorted expectations of himself,” including thoughts that he had failed at everything. She said he lost interest in gaming and other hobbies in 2021.

She prescribed him medication but later found out he wasn’t taking it. According to the report, she also tried to persuade him to undergo psychotherapy, but he refused, stating that he had tried it in the past and it had not worked.

The report shows that during one of the sessions, Harris allegedly talked about shooting people at his old high school. He said the thought lasted “for one evening and then went away,” the report says, adding: “No planning. I didn’t want to do it and I haven’t thought about it since that night.

Patel was scheduled to meet with Harris in September but did not show up. On October 11, clinic staff contacted him but were unable to reach him.

Authorities said Harris he entered the school with a rifle in an “aggressive, brutal manner” and was carrying nearly a dozen 30-round magazines. Officers found him eight minutes after arriving at the scene.

Police said he was arrested and later pronounced dead after a shootout with authorities.