School Shooter Identified as 17-Year-Old Student

At least 10 are dead at Santa Fe High School in Texas
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted May 18, 2018 9:15 AM CDT
Updated May 18, 2018 2:42 PM CDT
Active Shooter Reported at High School Near Houston
This undated photo from Facebook shows Dimitrios Pagourtzis.   (Facebook via AP)

Ten people are dead and 10 more wounded after Friday morning's shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, says Gov. Greg Abbott. No IDs have been released, but earlier Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said most victims were students at Santa Fe High School. USA Today reports that nine of the dead are students. The suspected gunman, a student at the school, is in custody, and Abbott said "one or two" other people of interest were being interviewed, but it was unclear what, if any, role they might have played in the attack.

  • Identified: The alleged shooter has been identified as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a junior at the school. The AP says he played on the school's JV football team and belongs to the dance squad of a local Greek Orthodox Church. KHOU reports that he recently posted an image of a T-shirt reading "Born to Kill" and a caption of "we all die sometime." He also reportedly posted images of knives, guns, and a coat with Nazi insignia. Abbott said Pagourtzis told police he planned to commit suicide but couldn't go through with it.
  • Explosives: Police say possible explosives were found at the school as well as at a site off campus. "Evidently this guy threw pipe bombs," one law enforcement official tells the Houston Chronicle. "We don't know if any of them went off." Bomb technicians also were at a home in Galveston County, a few miles from the school, reports KTRK.
  • Weapons: Pagourtzis used two guns in the attack that he stole from his father, a shotgun and a .38 revolver, said Abbott, per the Washington Post.

  • Witness: One student tells KTRK that a gunman burst into her first-period art class and began shooting. "We thought it was a fire drill at first but really, the teacher said, 'Start running.'" The student said she didn't get a good look at the shooter, adding that students escaped through a door at the back of the classroom.
  • President Trump: "This has been going on too long in our country," said President Trump, addressing the shooting at an unrelated event. "Too many years, too many decades now," he said, per CNN. "My administration is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools, and to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves, and to others."
  • Parkland: Survivors of the shooting in Parkland, Fla., were among those responding publicly. “Santa Fe High, you didn’t deserve this,” Emma Gonzalez tweeted. “You deserve peace all your lives, not just after a tombstone saying that is put over you.” In his own tweet, David Hogg wrote, "Get ready for two weeks of media coverage of politicians acting like they give a (s---) when in reality they just want to boost their approval ratings before midterms." The Hill has others.
(More school shooting stories.)

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