ST. LOUIS— “This is a real school shooter event, I love you all, I don't know what is going to happen, I am sorry if I am gone,” that is what sophomore Elijah Pohlman said he texted his family when an active shooter was in his school Monday morning. 

His brother and sister were also in the Central Visual and Performing Arts building at the time of the shooting that killed 2 people and injured 6 others before a police officer was able to kill the gunman, according to police. 

Callista Pohlman, a senior, said she was in Spanish class when someone ran through the halls yelling to “lock your doors” and mentioning someone had a gun.  She said minutes later the code was issued for an intruder in the building.

“We had to duck and sit and wait and it was terrifying. You could hear like the fear in our Vice Principal’s voice,” she recalled. “Then we waited and we waited and we waited for a while and then fire alarms went off and you could hear cops running through the building and for a while, they were marking the hallways as ‘clear.’ And they started chasing someone down the hallway and later I heard three shots.”

Callista then said police knocked on her classroom’s door shouting “police,” but the students told the teacher not to open the door in case it really wasn’t the police. She explained the principal eventually came on the loudspeaker saying, “If police knock on your door, please open it so we can evacuate.”

Callista said she and other students evacuated to the nearby Courtesy Diner then walked to the Schnucks on Arsenal and took buses to Gateway STEM so they could be reunited with their families. 

“It's a nightmare, you get a text form your granddaughter saying she's locked down at school and there is a shooter and you don't know what to think and it's just tragic,” said Scott Pohlman, who said he was relieved to get another text before arriving that his grandchildren were ok. 

Scott said police “did an outstanding job” getting the kids out of the building and saw some officers helping kids jump from a roof or climb over a fence. 

Elijah also agreed that police got them out of the building quickly and out of harm’s way, but he’s not ready to return.

“I couldn't go back tomorrow, I need time before I go back in there,” he said. “After hearing that, seeing that, and experiencing that, it is going to take me a minute before I actually feel comfortable walking back in there, thinking there isn't going to be a threat today. I shouldn’t be worrying about that”

The Pohlman siblings said there are metal detectors used at the school and security guards check their backpacks. However, they did mention some of the metal detectors are later put away. 

Police said the doors were locked at the time of the shooting and while they are still gathering information on how the gunman, a former student entered the building, they wouldn’t release all those details due to safety concerns. 

“You just don't expect this to happen in your life,” added Elijah.