ST. LOUIS – According to a 432-page incident report made public on Monday by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the 19-year-old former student who broke into Central Visual Performing Arts High School, stalked its halls, and killed a teacher and student during a mass shooting in October 2022 had written a manifesto outlining his goals and targets on that fateful day.
The manifesto is mentioned on page 422 of the incident report. While the entire manifesto was not made public, a police detective made a “brief synopsis of… observations… relative to its content.”
The first three pages of the manifesto were schematics of the CVPA campus, with handwritten notes identifying specific locations of the Annex building and gymnasium, which shooter Orlando Harris had labeled as his “first target.” He had specific classrooms targeted, with the names of the teachers or instructors assigned to each room.
Investigators said Harris identified teachers, students, and members of the school’s LGBT community as targets.
The manifesto included a psychiatrist’s report of Harris’ behavior and mental state, along with documents detailing his prescribed medication. Harris also had a list of psychiatrists that he did not like, but police did not mention if they were possible targets.
Harris had a checklist of everything he needed to gather to carry out his planned attack, as well as a note detailing what police described as his “satisfaction of being able to purchase an AR-15 rifle.”
Harris had recorded several names of active mass shooters, including the number of people killed by each, and said he wanted to be the “Next Mass Shooter of 2022” as part of his “Dying Declaration,” the report said.
The manifesto concluded with a countdown beginning 60 days from the Oct. 24 assault, along with plans to kill everyone who lived at his home by burning the house down.
Read the full 432-page report below.
