Orlando Harris’ family asked Missouri police to confiscate the 19-year-old’s bulletproof vest, ammunition and AR-15-style rifle. They knew his mental health was fragile after more than one suicide attempt. But the best officers could do in a state with some of the most expansive gun rights is suggest Harris keep the gun in a storage facility.

Nine days later, Harris entered his former high school in St. Louis and declared, “You will all die.”

A new 456-page police report details efforts by Harris’ family to try to take the gun from him in the days before he entered the Central High School for Visual and Performing Arts on October 24, 2022, when he killed a student and a teacher and injured seven others before being shot dead by police.

Missouri is not among the 21 states with a red flag law. Also known as extreme risk protection orders, red flag laws are intended to restrict the purchase of guns or temporarily remove them from people who may harm themselves or someone else.

The case highlights how difficult it is for law enforcement to restrict access to guns, even when there are signs that something is deeply wrong.

After an Army reservist killed 18 people in October 2023 in Lewiston, Maine, an investigation found missed opportunities to intervene in the shooter’s psychiatric crisis. And before a 14-year-old was charged in a fatal shooting this fall at his Georgia high school, a deputy spoke to him about an online threat and the family warned of an “extreme emergency.”

The investigative report on Harris’ case shows that the first time he tried to kill himself was in the fall of 2021, just before he was scheduled to leave for college. The pandemic disruption, a friend’s murder arrest and a car wreck may have contributed to his depression, his family and former boss told investigators.

The police report does not mention that he attended college. Instead, he worked in the cafeteria at a senior living facility, where he sometimes discussed guns with co-workers.

The following August, he met with a psychiatry resident at the University of Washington, telling him he was thinking about shooting people at his old school. He said those thoughts only lasted one evening and went away and he had no plans and didn’t want to.

But soon after, Harris began a countdown to the shooting. His plans included detailed school maps and a plan to target teachers, students and the LGBTQ community. He also had plans to burn down his family’s home with them inside.

The psychiatrist prescribed medication, but Harris did not fill the prescriptions. The report says they have developed a contingency plan.

The University of Washington did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Harris then stopped showing up for meetings.

On October 8, he attempted to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer in St. Charles, Missouri, but the transaction was blocked by an FBI background check. The report did not explain why, and police did not respond to an email from the AP. The FBI only provided a list of the 12 reasons for a denial, with no other details.

Then on October 10, Harris drove to a nearby suburb to pay a man $580 in cash for the rifle used in the shooting.

Harris’ family became more concerned on October 15 when two packages arrived from arms and ammunition suppliers. One of his sisters, Noneeka Harris, opened them, finding a body armor, magazine holsters and magazines. He then searched his bedroom and found the rifle inside an old television.

Harris’ mother, Tanya Ward, called BJC Mental Health Services and staff there “considered the situation an immediate threat.” They advised her to take the items to the police department and tell officers about her son’s mental illness.

The police at the station told him they could not take the firearm because Harris was of legal age to possess it. They said they should go home and an officer would meet them there. When he returned, Harris was home and insisted on keeping the gun.

His mother was adamant that the gun not be in the house, so officers suggested a storage unit. The report said officers also advised her on the steps she needed to take to have her son considered mentally unstable.

Federal law has barred mentally ill people from buying guns since 1968, including those deemed a danger to themselves or others, committed involuntarily, or found not guilty by reason of insanity or incompetent to stand trial.

Eventually, the firearm and other items were loaded into the trunk of Harris’ sister’s vehicle, including a box of ammunition that arrived the next day. He later drove his brother to a storage facility, which was about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the high school.

She told police she “knew something was going to happen.”

On October 24, shots rang out as Harris entered his former high school.

It is unclear why Harris targeted the school. A security officer recalled him as somewhat popular, and his school principal said he was not bullied, according to the investigative report. But as she pulled up in a dance class, a student told police she heard someone yell, “I hate this school. I hate them all.”

Mortally wounded, Alexzandria Bell initially ran for the entrance before collapsing to the ground, with a security officer assuring the 10th grader that help was on the way. But then he was silent.

One class jumped out the window to escape after their PE teacher Jean Kuczka, 61, stood between them and Harris. Kuckza was killed.

Harris eventually made it to the third floor, hiding in a computer lab. The first officer to enter the lab had a daughter at school.

“I had everything to lose,” the officer, who was among those who opened fire, recalled in the police report. He then texted his daughter, saying, “I killed him.”

Harris’ sister told investigators that when she heard about the shooting, she started driving to the school but then went home, waking her mother who had been working overnight.

Harris’ mother later checked her voicemail. It was a message from a hospital asking if she still needed help with her son.

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