hi, everybody. i'm kate snow. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist. nbc "news daily" starts right now. ♪♪ today, monday, october 24 of the, 2022, breaking news. a deadly school shooting in missouri. police say at least three people are dead, including the gunman. what we're learning about the terror that unfelleded inside the school. >> tri-demic warning.

doctors warning about not one, not two but three viruses. what you should do to keep yourself safe. >> what you need to know about uk's next prime minister. >> and a mystery after ripping apart a driveway at at california mansion. why police are now searching for evidence of a crime. we begin this hour with breaking news. yet another deadly school shooting in america. >> this time it's in st. louis. an armed gunman opening fire at a high school there, so here's what we know right now. three people are dead including the shooter after gunfire erupted around 9:00 a.m. at central vpa high school about 15 minute southwest of downtown st. louis. >> several people had to be taken to a nearby hospital. police and emergency responders rushed to the scene. cameras were there as students were evacuating that building. nbc news correspondent kathy park is following the developments closely and joins me now. we understand that police are still at the school. they are still going through the crime scene. what do we know at this hour? >> kate, this all happened at

the beginning of the school day shortly after 9:00 this morning central time in the st. louis area, and that's why students say they heard gunshots ring out, and officials received a call about an active shooter and officers were at the campus in a matter of minute. they were saying that students say they saw an individual with a long gun. the officers were able to apprehend the suspect. thereto was gunfire that was exchanged between the suspect as well as the officers. the suspect was injured and later taken to the hospital. that's where he later died. here's a little bit more on how this morning played out. take a listen. >> the officers did an amazing job. i was talking to a captain who was one of the first people into the school building. he spoke about how the officers arrived quickly, made entry with no hesitation and went directly to the sound of gunfire which is the expectation, not only of the department but of the community as well, to protect our kid and our teachers in these schools

that should be considered safe. >> police say there's no longer a threat. all the doors were locked and were closed at the time of the shooting, so the big question is how did the gunman actually gain entry? right now we don't have an i.d. on the suspect. police are just saying he's an individual in his 20s of the right now it's unclear his affiliation with the school. >> so traumatic for that community. kathy, thank you. a new warning about the triple virus threat posing a serious risk across the country. >> we're talking about the flu, covid and rsv which is a respiratory virus. doctors are now worried about a tri-demic they are calling it winter surge. on sunday the u.s. reported nearly 16,000 new covid infections nationwide. another concerning statistic. the cdc says more than 75% of the country's pediatric beds are occupied. >> take a look at this, at a single high school in virginia

1,000 students have called out sick with flu likecism toys. want to brick in dr. john torres and our medical reporter erica edwards. what's the concern about flu and covid cases rising at the same time now, erica? >> reporter: yeah, hi, aaron and cape. right now it's really about kids who were hit with the viruses hitting at the same time. we're talking about flu and rsv and other respiratory viruses that cause thins like croup all converging at the same time. young children were born at a time when we were in a pandemic and they were cocooned in their homes hand not exposed to these other viruses to help boost their immune systems. they have teeny tiny airways which makes it harder to breathe when they come down with some of these viruses. you know in, fact doctors are tell me that these viruses are hitting earlier than they would normally see making them worried about what's to come in the next

week or month. kate, aaron? >> erika, thank you. let me turn to dr. john here. how do we tell these three different illnesses apart especially for parents? >> it's tricky which is why we have tests as doctors. a couple of things to look for. with flu it will hit you very quickly and you'll feel u. you'll be in bed and not get out and people describe it as a light switch going off, all of a sudden i felt really bad. rsv it comes in phases. don't come all at the same time and they have breezing problems and wheezing and covid, the last two and a half year, looks like the other ones. the only one big difference you get the loss of sense or smell or taste and who is at risk depends on your age group and those under the age of 5 and those above the age of 56 and if you're unvaccinated you're at risk for everything. >> dr. john torres and erika edwards here with us as well, thank you both. when it comes to math and

reading american students are falling behind. the so-called's nation's report card was released today with a special focus on fourth and eighth grade students across the u.s. and found math scores this year saw their biggest decrease in recorded history and reading scores dropped to levels not seep since 1992. nbc news correspondent rehema ellis is outside a public school in new york city. are a hela, this is the first test conducted since 2019 and the first assessment of all of this before covid was the last one. what are the other headlines we're seeing. >> well, one of the headlines that we should be mindful of is that this is a test of some 450,000 students all across country so if people are thinking it's somebody else's kids not mine, it's everybody's kids. one of the things that they said about this is every single demographic was affected by pandemic learning. it was not good for our kids. you put up some. numbers, but let me give you more indication of what was happening, particularly a problem in math.

we found that that was the biggest setback, particularly for eighth graders, only 26% of eighth graders were proficient in math and down eight points from 2019 and in reading, the results were not good either. only 36% of fourth graders were proficient in reading down from 41%. so, they knew it was bad before, but it got even worse. when we look at these numbers of what the proficiency rate is for students across the country, it's not good. >> yeah. sort of verifying what all parents seemed to know that things just weren't really good during remote learning. what are the nation's top education officials saying about how we get students back on track? >> well, some of it is kind of academic. it's about going back to the abcs, if you will. they are talking about tutors and more advisized instruction, and they are saying instruction, instruction, instruction. kind of like a broken record and

that's in-person construction. everybody knew before the pandemic it was found important for students to be in contact with their teachers. what patients weren't so good at during the pandemic is teaching their kids math. that's real we they need to be in front of the teacher. how do you get, it get more instructional time for kid. we think that will make a big difference. >> kate. >> i cannot teach math to save my life. that's why i'm a reporter and the writer. a lot of parents going through that. raheema, thank you very much. appreciate it. south carolina senator lindy graham is getting a reprieve