Central Visual and Performing Arts High School

Documents seized from the shooter’s car contained diagrams of the building, including notes that the gymnasium would be the first target.

St. Louis police located the suspect inside the school about 12 minutes after being dispatched.

People who are experiencing thoughts of suicide or a mental health crisis can call or text 988.

The shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts high school in October 2022 left a student and teacher dead. Police killed the suspect, a 19-year-old former student of CVPA.

Hundreds of community members, students and alumni from Central Visual and Performing Arts High School and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience mourned the lives lost one year after a deadly shooting at the south St. Louis schools.

While friendship has helped Mikayla Sanders, Axel Cortes and Raniyah Taylor recover from the initial trauma of last year’s school shooting, there is still a lot of healing to be done.

The shooting one year ago today at Central Visual Performing Arts High School left many students and teachers there and at Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience dealing with immeasurable grief. CVPA artists and alumni have spent the year using art to heal from the fatal shooting.

Students at Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience are processing difficult emotions as they reflect on the upcoming anniversary of the deadly shooting in the school building they share with Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.

Lawmakers in Jefferson City refused to consider any gun restrictions during the 2023 legislative session, despite pleas from students affected by the south St. Louis school shooting. Members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen have tried to fill in the gaps with their limited power.

On Monday, students danced across the stage at the magnet high school to remember the people they lost in the October mass shooting and to celebrate the ways they continue to heal.