At least 10 dead, 10 injured after school shooting in Texas; suspect in custody

Suspects is detained after a mass shooting on Friday morning at a high school southeast of Houston

Published May 18, 2018 12:50PM (EDT)

In this image taken from video emergency personnel and law enforcement officers respond to a high school near Houston after an active shooter was reported on campus, Friday, May 18, 2018, in Santa Fe, Texas.  (AP/KTRK-TV)
In this image taken from video emergency personnel and law enforcement officers respond to a high school near Houston after an active shooter was reported on campus, Friday, May 18, 2018, in Santa Fe, Texas. (AP/KTRK-TV)

Another mass shooting at an American high school -- this time in Santa Fe, Texas, on Friday morning -- has resulted in at least 10 deaths and 10 injuries, according to multiple sources. Nine of the 10 dead were apparently students. One suspect is in custody and another "person of interest" has been detained, according to tweets from Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

In a news conference on Friday afternoon, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that police had identified the shooter as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a student at Santa Fe High School. Apparently the guns he used, a shotgun and a .38 revolver, belonged to his father.

"Witnesses described students running from the school as they heard gunshots," CNN reported. Some at the school also reported hearing what may have been a fire alarm as the shooting began, "though the sequence of events wasn't immediately clear,"

"We were all standing (outside), but not even five minutes later, we started hearing gunshots," Angelica Martinez, a 14-year-old student, told CNN. "And then everybody starts running, but like the teachers are telling us to stay put, but we're all just running away." She added, "I didn't see anybody shooting, but like [the gunshots] were kind of spaced."

Others told ABC13 that the shooting happened in an art class between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m. Another student said that around 7:45, the fire alarms went off and students evacuated. Another student told the outlet that she and some students hid in the theater room, just a "couple rooms down" from the art room, after they heard four or five gunshots and people screaming.

Another student, Dakota Shrader, told CNN affiliate KPRC that she heard the fire alarm first and that everyone assumed it was a routine fire drill. As they began to leave their classrooms, she heard three gun shots and "all the teachers are telling us to run."
"I was scared for my life," she said, visibly shaken. "Nobody should go through this, nobody should be have to feel that in school. This is a place where we're supposed to feel safe."
Santa Fe is a community in Galveston County, Texas, just southeast of Houston. (It is not the better-known city in New Mexico.) Its school district released the following statement a few hours after the shooting:

This morning an incident occurred at the high school involving an active shooter. The situation is active, but has been contained. There have been confirmed injuries. Details will be released as we receive updated information. Law enforcement will continue to secure the building and initiate all emergency management protocols to release and move students to another location. All other campuses are operating under their regular schedules.

At this time, students from the high school are being transported by SFISD transportation to the Alamo Gym located at 13306 Highway 6. Parents may reunite with their students at this location.

The district will continue to keep you updated as information is available. Safety and communication are our top priorities.

A hospital spokesman confirmed that those injured from the shooting are being taken to a hospital in Galveston. So far, he said, the hospital has received at least three patients with gunshot wounds: one teenager and two adults. This was the third school shooting to occur this week.

President Donald Trump tweeted about the school shooting this morning:

A few hours later, Trump made more substantive public remarks, as reported by the Washington Post: “This has been going on too long in our country — too many years, too many decades now,” the president said. “We grieve for the terrible loss of life and send our support and love to everyone affected by this absolutely horrific attack.”


By Rachel Leah

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Guns High School Shooting Mass Shootings Police Santa Fe School Shooting School Shootings Texas