ST. LOUIS–A city thrust into the national spotlight earlier in the day due to a school shooting that left a teacher and a student dead and six others injured gathered together Monday night to grieve during an emotional vigil that included a call to action to address gun violence. It was a point driven home by some of the students and staff members who survived the ordeal.

One by one, they spoke at the Roman Pavilion in Tower Grove Park. Many of them talked about loving school.

“It’s not fair that any of these people were hurt or taken away from us,” a tenth grade student at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, who was in the classroom where a 61 year-old teacher was shot and killed. 

“I heard a lot of gunshots. I had closed my eyes and when I opened my eyes she was laying there. She was covered in blood and she was just laying there in front of us.” he told reporters Monday night.

“I wanted to think it was a drill even when I saw the gun I thought maybe it was fake, maybe it was a fake gun, maybe he was hired by the school to see what we would actually do, but then I smelled the gunpowder when his gun started going off so I knew it wasn’t fake,” he said.

“This morning, my life was torn apart by gunshots,” another student told the crowd. ”This morning, I hid in a corner terrified, listening to screams down the hallway. This morning, I had to run past a body in the hallway with my hands up….I’m a student. I wanted to go to school today and learn. I was there to learn. I was not there to hide in a corner. Guns do not belong in schools,” he said.

“Suddenly, you’re hearing gunshots and your stomach drops," a female student from the school said.  

"There’s literally, there’s no feeling in the world that’s like being trapped. We were all huddled in this corner, sobbing over eachother, hugging eachother, holding eachother’s hands, praying hoping not knowing what was going to happen, completely helpless we couldn’t do anything," she continued.

“I thought to myself, I was really going to die in that classroom without being able to text my mother that I love her. I hope nobody, nobody ever has to hear things I heard, the screams, the banging of the gunshots,” she added. “There’s nothing like waiting in that parking lot seeing people come over that hill running down the street and not knowing if your friends, your teachers, the people you love are going to come out. It’s the worst feeling in the world. I don’t want this to happen to anybody ever again.”

Several Democratic state lawmakers addressed the audience, including State Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, who was a former student of the teacher who died Monday but as of late Monday night had not been officially identified by police.

Bosley and State Rep. Rasheen Aldridge were among those promising a fight over gun legislation in Jefferson City, where Republicans have passed a series of bills in recent years that Democrats say has contributed to an explosion of gun violence in the state, and St. Louis in particular. 

Police say the accused gunman, Orlando Harris, had no prior criminal record but they were still investigating if mental illness may have been a factor. They have not released how Harris, 19, obtained the gun and the ammunition.

The shooting came the day before no excuse-absentee voting opens in Missouri ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm election.

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, who spent part of the day meeting with CVPA students, teachers and their families, urged the crowd to “show up and show out at the ballot box,” but also said it was time to take action to help others.

“We got to think about who we don’t see right now. Somebody right now is hurting and they’re trying to figure out how do I express this hurt. This baby didn’t wake up today and just decide that’s going to be the thing they were going to do today. This thing started before today. How do we as a community stop, prevent, we gotta not be reactive."

Late Monday night the Saint Louis Public School District announced that classes will not be held Tuesday at CVPA or Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, which share the same campus at Arsenal and Kingshighway. 

“Please know that I, and the entire staff at Saint Louis Public Schools, share in your sorrow over today’s tragic losses and the trauma such an incident leaves behind. I assure you that our staff is committed to doing everything in our power to keep our schools safe. I am proud of their actions today and I am convinced that some of their actions saved lives. And, for this, I am grateful,” Superintendent Kelvin Adams said in a statement.