CVPA High School shooter hid semi-automatic rifle in rented storage unit

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) -- News 4 confirmed the gunman responsible for the deadly shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School stored the weapon in a storage unit in St. Louis County.

A spokesperson says 19-year-old Orlando Harris hid the weapon at Extra Space Storage on Watson Avenue.

FBI agents emptied the unit and are now reviewing the facility’s surveillance cameras.

According to police, there is video of the gunman putting the firearm in the unit and taking it out before the shooting.

Harris was a former student and was armed with an AR-15 rifle and 600 rounds of ammunition when he entered the school Monday. Harris then shot and killed a student and teacher that morning. Seven others were injured.

Investigators say he had been planning the attack for weeks.

New evidence shows the shooter tried to buy a gun from a licensed vendor in St. Charles on October 8 but the sale was blocked by an FBI background check.

Police didn’t confirm who that dealer was however there was a gun show in St. Charles October 7-9.

As a result, Harris bought the gun used in the deadly school shooting from a private seller.

“The suspect attempted to buy a firearm from a licensed dealer in St. Charles, Missouri. An FBI background check successfully blocked this sale,” Sgt. Charles Wall with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said in an email Thursday. “As a result, the suspect sought out and bought the rifle used in the school shooting from a private seller, who legally purchased the weapon from a federally licensed dealer in December 2020. There is no existing law which would have prevented the private sale between the original purchaser and the suspect in this case. The State of Missouri does not have a red flag law. That means SLMPD officers did not have clear authority to temporarily seize the rifle when they responded to the suspect’s home when called by the suspect’s mother on 10/15/22.”

The firearm was temporarily given to a third party who has not been identified, but the gunman was somehow able to get the weapon back before Monday’s shooting.

Harris then decided to rent a storage unit to store the AR-15.

Extra Space Storage tells News 4 guns are not allowed in units per its contract and that the company is cooperating with authorities.

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