Scott Olson/Getty Images(SANTA FE, Texas) — At least five vigils will be held in the coming days to mourn the 10 people killed in a shooting massacre at Santa Fe High School in Texas on Friday morning.
Eight students and two teachers were shot and killed when 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis allegedly burst into an art room with a shotgun and a .38 revolver, both of which appear to be legally owned by his father. Thirteen other people, including a police officer, were wounded.
Pagourtzis is in custody and has been charged with capital murder https://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/crime.htm .
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called Friday’s shooting “one of the most heinous attacks that we’ve ever seen in the history of Texas schools.”
Among the dead are students Chris Stone, Aaron McLeod and Kimberly Vaughan, as well as art room teacher’s aide Cynthia Tisdale.
Sabika Sheikh, a student from Pakistan who was at Santa Fe High School for an exchange program, was also killed.
“I send my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Sabika Sheikh,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. “Sabika was in the United States on the State Department-sponsored Youth Exchange and Study program, helping to build ties between the United States and her native Pakistan. Sabika’s death and that of the other victims is heartbreaking and will be mourned deeply both here in the United States, and in Pakistan.”
Santa Fe High School freshman Peter Matuza said he was in art class Friday morning when he heard two explosions and ducked under a table.
The gunman shot Matuza’s friend with a shotgun before turning and opening fire with a revolver, Matuza told ABC News.
Students were running and screaming, and one student flipped a table over for cover, Matuza said.
Matuza told ABC News he made eye contact with the suspect, noting, “He had a face of rage.”
“He could have killed me right there,” he said.
The gunman then “walked through a closet that went straight to the adjacent art room and began opening fire in there, as well,” Matuza said.
Pagourtzis allegedly wrote in journals that he wanted to carry out the shooting and then commit suicide. But he ultimately gave himself up to authorities, according to Abbott.
A motive for the killing spree remains unknown.
At the Santa Fe Police Department, Pagourtzis gave a statement admitting to shooting multiple people inside the school with the intent of killing people, according to a probable cause affidavit. He told police he acted alone.
Pagourtzis also allegedly stated during the interview that he did not shoot students he liked “so he could have his story told,” the affidavit states.
There were no warning signs and the suspect doesn’t have a criminal history, officials said.
The attorneys representing Pagourtzis told ABC News that the teen’s parents have said repeatedly they had no idea their son was capable of this kind of violence. The parents also said that the two firearms he allegedly used in the massacre are owned by his father and were kept in a locked gun cabinet, according to the attorneys.
“The family is stunned and shell-shocked,” said Robert Barfield, one of the lawyers the Pagourtzis family have hired to represent their son in court. “The parents were in the dark.”
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
