A photo of Alexandria Bell rests at the scene of a growing floral memorial to the victims of a school shooting at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, in St. Louis. Bell and teacher Jean Kuczka were killed, along with the gunman, in Monday's shooting. Photo: Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP

Orlando Harris also left behind a handwritten note offering his explanation for the shooting Monday at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, St. Louis Police Commissioner Michael Sack told reporters.

Tenth-grader Alexzandria Bell and 61-year-old physical education teacher Jean Kuczka died and seven students were wounded before police killed Harris in an exchange of gunfire.

Sack read Harris’ note in which the young man lamented that he had no friends, no family, no girlfriend and a life of isolation. Harris called it the “perfect storm for a mass shooter.”

Sack said Harris had ammunition strapped to his chest and in a bag, and that additional magazines were found dumped in stairwells.

“This could have been much worse,” Sack said.

The attack forced students to barricade doors and huddle in classroom corners, jump from windows and run out of the building to seek safety. One girl said she was eye-to-eye with the shooter before his gun apparently jammed and she was able to run out.

Several people inside the school said they heard Harris warn, “You are all going to die!”

Harris graduated from the school last year. Sack, speaking at a news conference, urged people to come forward when someone who appears to suffer from mental illness or distress begins “speaking about purchasing firearms or causing harm to others.”