How the family of the St. Louis school shooter tried to take away his gun

ST. LOUIS – After a deadly shooting on a south side high school campus two years ago, police said the shooter's family was so worried about him that they had someone come to keep his semi-automatic rifle safe just days before the attack bring to.

On Tuesday, police clarified that the third person was Orlando Harris' sister, who lived with him, and that she did not take the gun with her for long. Instead, she drove Harris to a warehouse where he rented a gun, ammunition and tactical equipment unit.

“I believe that the information that was provided to us was in the hours following a serious critical incident,” Maj. Janice Bockstruck said Tuesday of the difference between what police initially told the public and what what was in the final police report. “And we had to further investigate the backstory of the weapon.”

The 432-page final police report released Monday is the most comprehensive account yet of the Oct. 24, 2022 attack. Using interviews with students, teachers, family members and police, it shows how Harris made his way into Central Visual and Performing Arts High School and the Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience on South Kingshighway, broke into classrooms and opened fire with a high-powered rifle, shooting and killing two and injuring five.

In the days afterward, police said a “third party known to the family” took the gun from Harris and it was not clear how he got it back. The new report provides a detailed account of the critical weeks leading up to the shooting, detailing the family's efforts to get the gun out of Harris' hand and why officers said they couldn't take it with them.

The report details Harris' deteriorating mental health, suicide attempts and hospitalizations. And it includes extensive interviews about the last encounter Harris had with law enforcement before the shooting: when his mother, Tanya Ward, called police hoping they could help.

It was October 15, 2022. According to the report, Harris' mother and sister Noneeka knew something was wrong. And they were worried.

Ward and Harris, 19, were out running errands when two packages for him showed up at the family home. Harris' younger brother, who is not named in the report, intercepted the packages and placed them in Noneeka's basement room. He researched the labels and found that both were from companies that sold guns and gun accessories.

Noneeka opened the packages and found a body armor, ammunition magazines and magazine holsters. She then searched her brother's room and found an AR rifle in an old television box, she told police. She called the police about the items. She said the agency never returned her call.

Later that day, Ward also called police and then BJC Healthcare, which had provided mental health services to Harris.

She was not satisfied with the answers “and broke off discussions,” the report said.

In a second call that day to BJC, Ward said staff conducted a telephone review and “deemed the situation to be an imminent threat.”

“BJC Mental Health Resources advised her to take the items to police and inform them of her son’s mental illness,” cops wrote in the report. “She was advised to explain that her son purchased the items and that the items were in her home.”

Ward and Noneeka took the items to the Southern Patrol Division, police said, and crisis response unit officers told them that Harris had been on their radar based on “prior documentation.”

But they told her they couldn't confiscate the items.

Several officers then drove to the family home and spoke with Harris and the family. They again said they couldn't legally take the gun. Harris was an adult, he had not been involuntarily hospitalized, and he had purchased the gun legally.

“Officers gave her the option of taking the gun to a pawn shop or giving it to a responsible friend for safekeeping,” the report said. “The option of taking the gun to the pawn shop was not an option and no friends were available at the immediate time.”

While police were at the home, Harris began arguing with Ward “that he worked hard to earn the money to purchase the gun and that he wanted to keep it,” police wrote.

But he also agreed to “appease his mother and the whole family” by purchasing a storage facility for the weapon, ammunition and tactical equipment.

Before officers left that day, Noneeka locked the gun and other items in the trunk of her car.

The next day another package of ammunition arrived at the house.

On October 18, Noneeka drove her brother to Extra Space Storage on Watson Road in Shrewsbury, where he rented a unit and stored the equipment.

“Nneeka Harris stated that she knew something was going to happen,” police wrote in the report. “She asked Orlando H. what he would do with the gun.

“He just told her he was going to the shooting range.”

Neither Ward nor Noneeka Harris could be reached for comment Tuesday.