Texas teen charged with killing 10 in high school massacre

[rooster59]

Texas teen charged with killing 10 in high school massacre

By Liz Hampton and Erwin Seba

 

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the suspect in the Santa Fe High School shooting is shown in this booking photo at the Galveston County Jail, released by the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office in Texas, U.S., May 18, 2018. Courtesy Galveston County Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS

 

SANTA FE, Texas (Reuters) - Texas officials charged a 17-year-old student with murder in the shooting of 10 people, including fellow pupils, at his high school on Friday in an attack similar to the massacre at a Florida high school earlier this year.

 

Students said a gunman, identified by law enforcement as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, opened fire in a classroom at Santa Fe High School shortly before 8 a.m. CT (1300 GMT) on Friday, and that they fled in panic after seeing classmates wounded and a fire alarm triggered a full evacuation. Ten people were hurt in the attack, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.

 

It was the latest in a long series of deadly shootings at U.S. schools. Seventeen teens and educators were shot dead at a Parkland, Florida, high school in February, a massacre that stirred the nation's long-running debate over gun ownership.

 

The Galveston County Sheriff's Office identified Pagourtzis and said he had been charged with capital murder in a post on its Facebook page. More charges could follow.

 

Speaking to reporters before the teen was identified, Abbott told reporters that the suspect had used a shotgun and a .38 revolver taken from his father in the fourth-deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. public school.

 

"Not only did he want to commit the shooting, but he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting," Abbott said, citing a police review of the suspect's journals. "He didn't have the courage to commit suicide."

 

Two other people are in custody, Abbott said.

 

Investigators are talking to the suspect, Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said.

 

Abbott said that investigators had seen a T-shirt on the suspect's Facebook page that read "Born to Kill."

 

Explosive devices had also been found at the school, located about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Houston, and off campus, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted.

 

Police were searching two homes and a vehicle linked to the suspect, where they have found multiple homemade explosive devices, Abbott said.

 

'THE GUY BEHIND ME WAS DEAD'

 

Courtney Marshall, a 15-year-old freshman at the school, said the gunman came into her art class shooting.

 

"I wanted to take care of my friends, but I knew I had to get out of there," Marshall said, saying that she saw at least one person hit. "I knew the guy behind me was dead."

 

Orlando Gonzalez said that his 16-year-old son Keaton, fled the attack, but one of his friends was shot and wounded.

 

"I was really worried, I didn't know what was going on ... I almost couldn't drive," Gonzalez said. "I just imagine what he's going through ... He's still scared."

 

The school has some 1,462 students, according to federal education data.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump called the latest school massacre "absolutely horrific."

 

"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," Trump said at the White House.

 

Days after the Parkland shooting, Trump said that elected officials should be ready to "fight" the powerful National Rifle Association lobby group. Early this month he embraced that group, telling its annual meeting in Dallas "your Second Amendment rights are under siege."

 

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right to bear arms.

 

No major federal gun controls have been imposed since Parkland, though the administration is pursuing a proposed regulatory ban on "bump stocks," which enable a semi-automatic rifle to fire a steady stream of bullets. The devices were used in an October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 59 people but have not played a role in other major U.S. mass shootings.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-19

[ezzra]

As horrible and gut wrenching these repeated killings are, the sad fact is that not much can be done to stop it from happening again and again, as there are as many as deranged dumb asses in the US as the availability of guns and ammo and the ease of which one can just get weapons and go on a killing spree....

[samran]

Thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers.

 

The only thing that would have stopped this is if all the students and teachers were armed. This is clearly a failure of there not being enough guns. 

 

Clearly there is no other global experience which the US can learn from. Schools shootings are now as American as apple pie and baseball. 

 

Thoghts and prayers, thoughts  and prayers. 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2018 by samran

[Credo]

My condolences to the family, friends and classmates to the victims.   

 

These killings are primarily due to the easy access to guns.   There is, however, another element that seems to be unique to the US and that is that they occur with such frequency.   Young people tend to copy others and whether it is clusters of suicides or school shootings, it is something that has gained traction and that makes it even more difficult to prevent.   

[Samui Bodoh]

The only thing missing from this story is the NRA coming out to demonstrate against doing anything that might deal with the school shooting issue.

 

BTW, I would say "thoughts and prayers", but hasn't that become simply a trite phrase whose use is simply a way of washing one's hands of any responsibility and/or culpability?

 

Forgive me, but as the US doesn't really take any action to stop these massacres, all one can say is "re-set the clock until the next one occurs".

 

It is heart-breaking to see kids slaughtered again and again.

 

And again and again and again...

 

[Somtamnication]

Horrible. RIP. This should not be happening.

[Radar501]

3 minutes ago, samran said:

The only thing that would have stopped this is if all the students and teachers were armed. This is clearly a failure of there not being enough guns.

You are bound to cop some flak from those TV readers who fail to detect your less than subtle sarcasm.

 

I feel such pain for the shooter.   Maybe his academic grades were low, so the school had to pay the price.

 

Good thing that he didn't have the courage to turn the gun on himself afterwards.   The very best forensic head doctors can now have a chat with him to find out what makes a mass murderer tick.   The USA doesn't want tragedies of this caliber to ever occur again, right?   

 

Local shops have already reported the sudden boom in sales of candles.

[bannork]

Bullet proof vests and combat helmets should be part of the school uniform.

 

 

[Scott]

Troll post and reply removed.  

[starky]

22 schools already this year. 

[Cat ji]

USA has a lot of social psychoses, and high school is quite heavy there / can be for some kids.

Completely taking guns away from people there is hypothetical only.  ...Proven time and time again that it ends up with only criminal type people having guns...which is more of a problem in some countries than in others.

[daoyai]

The USA is becoming nearly as violent as Thailand, very sad and tragic again.  Will we now be subjected to more media attention for D. Hogg?

[carmine]

I'm sure the latest mass shooting won't come as a surprise to anyone.  Nothing will be done.  Trump is in the NRA's pocket.  No matter how many innocents are gunned down nothing it appears will ever be done. Its just madness!!  Don't Americans see the difference in other countries with stricter gun controls??

 

Onwards to the next one........ how deeply sad. 

[transam]

12 minutes ago, daoyai said:

The USA is becoming nearly as violent as Thailand, very sad and tragic again.  Will we now be subjected to more media attention for D. Hogg?

No school massacres in LOS...

[a977]

Maybe if the NRA came into the 21st century  instead of living in the war of Independence era and they eliminated section 2 of the constitution  regarding the right to bear arms, and the gutless polititions got off their fat asses and took a leaf out of Australia's book where they bought back all the guns after the Port Arthur massacre America might  once again become the land of the free and home of the brave

[Kiwiken]

1 hour ago, Cat ji said:

USA has a lot of social psychoses, and high school is quite heavy there / can be for some kids.

Completely taking guns away from people there is hypothetical only.  ...Proven time and time again that it ends up with only criminal type people having guns...which is more of a problem in some countries than in others.

I am not and never will support restrictions on the sale of weapons. I believe however in regulation. Often these people seem to get these weapons by dubious means. Why are they not required to be in a secure safe? Only the licensed firearm owner should have access to that safe. If it had be passed on to an unlicensed family member then you the Firearm owner are irresponsible and should have your firearms license revoked and firearms removed. End of story.

In the USA there seems to be little regulation of Firearms and often weak Policing.

In Britain and Australia i known regulations are strict and heavy restriction of firearms. Still shootings occur

In New Zealand regulations are strict but not as tight as UK or Britain. Restrictions are slightly lighter but policing is tight.

I just renewed my Firearms license. My Security of firearms thoroughly inspected and my character checked. The final question asked of me was "Is there any situation in which I would use a firearm to defend my Home." The answer is no its the last thing I think of. Firearms are the last resort not the first.

[MaeJoMTB]

3 minutes ago, Kiwiken said:

Why are they not required to be in a secure safe? Only the licensed firearm owner should have access to that safe.

No point in having a gun for home defense if it's in a safe.

It needs to be loaded and within reach at all times.

 

Hunting/target guns can be in a safe.

Edited May 19, 2018 by MaeJoMTB

[Scott]

Troll posts removed.  

[Kiwiken]

13 minutes ago, MaeJoMTB said:

No point in having a gun for home defense if it's in a safe.

It needs to be loaded and within reach at all times.

 

Hunting/target guns can be in a safe.

Then you are part of the problem in your Country

[Sir Dude]

As usual, it's the ease of access to guns for the completely unsuitable psycho types. You are never going to get a ban on guns in the US but making them harder to get hold of for the under 21, fails a mental evaluation test, anyone with misdemeanors/felony raps etc.say might be doable...along with proper penalties for allowing them to fall into the hands of those who didn't buy them or have a license for them (which seems to be the case here) as the father of this kid is guilty of negligence at least. Also, this cowardly punk didn't have the sand to pop himself at the end as intended...though Texas law might well end up doing it for him anyhow.    

[Expatthailover]

2 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

The only thing missing from this story is the NRA coming out to demonstrate against doing anything that might deal with the school shooting issue.

 

BTW, I would say "thoughts and prayers", but hasn't that become simply a trite phrase whose use is simply a way of washing one's hands of any responsibility and/or culpability?

 

Forgive me, but as the US doesn't really take any action to stop these massacres, all one can say is "re-set the clock until the next one occurs".

 

It is heart-breaking to see kids slaughtered again and again.

 

And again and again and again...

 

Not just nra.

The crocodile tears from dumbass don  (the draft dodging coward) followed by lets arm teachers and other assorted idiocy.

Sadly these horrible incidents wont be going away anytime soon.

The nra is emboldened and the renecks et al are happy that they have a president who condones this sort of thing.

Very very sad for the deceased and their nearest and dearest

[Emster23]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

As horrible and gut wrenching these repeated killings are, the sad fact is that not much can be done to stop it from happening again and again, as there are as many as deranged dumb asses in the US as the availability of guns and ammo and the ease of which one can just get weapons and go on a killing spree....

US has no monopoly on deranged dumb asses.... this sort of slaughter is pretty much a US thing.

"not much can be done to stop it"  but the answer appears "....the availability of guns and ammo and the ease of which one can just get weapons and go on a killing spree...."  something could be done, but won't

[FritsSikkink]

28 minutes ago, Kiwiken said:

I am not and never will support restrictions on the sale of weapons. I believe however in regulation. Often these people seem to get these weapons by dubious means. Why are they not required to be in a secure safe? Only the licensed firearm owner should have access to that safe. If it had be passed on to an unlicensed family member then you the Firearm owner are irresponsible and should have your firearms license revoked and firearms removed. End of story.

In the USA there seems to be little regulation of Firearms and often weak Policing.

In Britain and Australia i known regulations are strict and heavy restriction of firearms. Still shootings occur

In New Zealand regulations are strict but not as tight as UK or Britain. Restrictions are slightly lighter but policing is tight.

I just renewed my Firearms license. My Security of firearms thoroughly inspected and my character checked. The final question asked of me was "Is there any situation in which I would use a firearm to defend my Home." The answer is no its the last thing I think of. Firearms are the last resort not the first.

Bla bla bla bla

The USA is the only country with this much mass school killings because everybody needs to have a gun.

[DM07]

Some brainfarting polititian finally made out the problem with school- shootings: schools have too many entrances and doors!

Let that sink in for a second!

That is, where we are right now!

[Credo]

7 minutes ago, DM07 said:

Some brainfarting polititian finally made out the problem with school- shootings: schools have too many entrances and doors!

Let that sink in for a second!

That is, where we are right now!

So, they will block those and then we can read about the deaths due to fire.   

 

[carmine]

Actually where we are right now is an incumbent president that accepted $30m from the NRA in campaign funds.  He has hopelessly compromised himself and will not do anything of any value to improve the situation.  This will be the case no matter how many massacres and as everyone knows the next one is only round the corner.

[Credo]

I'd say this about sums up a big part of the problem:

 

[samran]

50 minutes ago, DM07 said:

Some brainfarting polititian finally made out the problem with school- shootings: schools have too many entrances and doors!

Let that sink in for a second!

That is, where we are right now!

Well no doubt school shootings will decline over the summer break, so that person might well come to the obvious conclusion there...after all a dumbed down America seems to be the GOPs goal these days.

 

[Jonnapat]

38,880 killed by firearms in the USA last year and nobody is able to do a thing about it.

Too many politicians in hock to the NRA.

[Baerboxer]

5 hours ago, Credo said:

My condolences to the family, friends and classmates to the victims.   

 

These killings are primarily due to the easy access to guns.   There is, however, another element that seems to be unique to the US and that is that they occur with such frequency.   Young people tend to copy others and whether it is clusters of suicides or school shootings, it is something that has gained traction and that makes it even more difficult to prevent.   

 

The easy access to guns isn't the primary reason for the killings. The easy access facilitates the killings and allows more to be killed more easily. Without guns it would be bladed weapons, bows, clubs, spears, chemicals, vehicles or whatever.

 

The primary reason seems to be the prevalent culture, failure to deal with drug and mental health issues, and something very wrong with a particular part of a specific society.