The family pleaded for the rifle to be confiscated ahead of the 2022 school shooting

Orlando Harris’ family pleaded with Missouri State Police to confiscate the 19-year-old’s bulletproof vest, ammunition and an AR-15-style rifle. They knew his mental health was fragile after more than one suicide attempt. But the best officers could do in a state with some of the most expansive gun laws is to suggest Harris keep her guns in storage.

Nine days later, Harris walked into his former high school in St. Louis and declared, “You will all die.”

A new 456-page police report details efforts by Harris’ family to take his gun away in the days before he walked into Central Visual and Performing Arts High School on Oct. 24, 2022, killed a student and a teacher and wounded seven others before being arrested. fatally shot by police.

Missouri is not among the 21 states with red flag laws that restrict gun purchases or temporarily take away guns from people who may harm themselves or someone else.

The report states that Harris first attempted suicide in the fall of 2021, just before he was scheduled to leave for college. The disruption of the pandemic, a friend’s arrest in connection with a homicide and a car accident all may have contributed to his depression, his family and former boss told investigators.

The police report makes no mention of him attending college. Instead, he worked in the cafeteria at a senior center, where he sometimes talked to co-workers about guns.

The following year, Harris began a countdown to the shooting. His plans included detailed maps of the school and a plan aimed at teachers, students and the LGBTQ community. He also planned to burn down the family home with them.

On October 8, 2022, he attempted to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer in St. Charles, Missouri, but the deal was blocked by an FBI background check. The report does not explain why.

On Oct. 10, Harris drove 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 it and found a bulletproof vest, magazine holsters and magazines. She then searched his bedroom and found the rifle.

Harris’ mother, Tanya Ward, called BJC Mental Health Services. Staff advised her to take her belongings to the police.

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

His mother was adamant that the gun not be in the house, so the officers suggested storing it in a warehouse. The report said the officers also advised her on what steps she should take to have her son considered mentally unstable. Since 1968, federal law has prohibited certain mentally ill people from purchasing guns.

Ultimately, the firearm and other items were loaded into the trunk of Harris’ sister’s vehicle, including a case of ammunition that arrived the next day. She later drove her brother to the warehouse, which was located about 5 miles from the high school.

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

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