ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department plans to release two videos on Wednesday from the day of a 2022 shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.

This comes after a force investigations unit officially closed the case file on the shooting last week, completing a 700-page report.

On Oct. 24, 2022, a 19-year-old gunman, Orlando Harris, killed two people in a shooting at the south St. Louis school. Police later shot and killed Harris, who injured seven others in the incident. Teacher Jean Kuczka and student Alexzandria Bell also died in the shooting.

SLMPD says these videos will be released on Wednesday through the department’s open records portal and will be the only videos released to the public.

“This is something we do not take honor in doing, but we must comply with the state’s open record law and release two videos that we believe fall under Missouri’s Sunshine law,” SLMPD police major Janice Bockstruck.

The first video consists of school surveillance footage and tracks movement of the armed intruder within the school. It does not include audio except for a police traffic communication advising officers of an active shooter. That video is around nine minutes long.

The second video consists of bodycam footage of a responding officer arriving at the school and running to the third floor and eventually approaching the suspect. It shows a shootout between the suspects and police officers, according to SLMPD.

“The videos that will be released later this week will give a rise to a variety of emotions for our community,” Mayor Tishaura Jones said.

St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy says anytime there is a criminal investiagtion, videos such as the two set for release are closed records until the investigation is complete, part of his explanation as to why the videos were released nearly 21 months later.

“I have to make sure I’m talking with our Sunshine unit, our lawyers,” said Tracy. “I have to make sure, although it’s up to the police chief to release these videos, but I have to abide by the legislative laws. At the same time, if it’s a criminal case, I have to make sure I’m speaking to the circuit attorney and their people to make sure we’re not tainting a jury pool. Got to make sure what video is out there if there if this is something that might compromise an investigation. This was closed until we had a through investigation.”

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Police also plan to release the aforementioned 700-page report to the open records portal on a later date, but will need some time for redactions to take place, according to Bockstruck.

Police say all other videos and documents amid the investigation are part of a closed record and not available to general public, though the department will review Sunshine requests for people show seek other records in the case.

St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy says the families of Bell and Kuczka had opportunities to review the video before the upcoming release. Police have also spoken with families of other victims in the shooting and St. Louis Public School staff members to review the video.

“It is obvious the two videos will be graphic and will force many victims and their families to relive this awful tragedy,” he said.

St. Louis police say there will behavior health resources such as crisis counselors, therapy dogs, and on officer wellness unit available to St. Louis Public Schools as the videos are released.

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