Suspected shooter Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, killed 10 and injured 10 others at Santa Fe High School in Texas where he is also student.
May 18, 2018
Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17-year-old suspected shooter is also a student at Santa Fe High School.
PHOTO: Santa Fe High School freshman Caitlyn Girouard, center, hugs her friend outside the Alamo Gym where students and parents wait to reunite following a shooting at Santa Fe High School, May 18, 2018, in Santa Fe, Texas. (Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle via AP)
PHOTO: A man hugs a woman outside the Alamo Gym where parents wait to reunite with their children following a shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, May 18, 2018. (Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle via AP)
10 dead, 10 wounded in shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, explosives found on campus: Officials
PHOTO: A woman prays in the grass outside the Alamo Gym where parents wait to reunite with their kids following a shooting at Santa Fe High School, May 18, 2018, in Santa Fe, Texas. (Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle via AP)
VietPress USA(May 18, 2018): Today on Friday, May 18, 2018, at 7:30am CT, a male student of Santa Fe High School in Texas carried a shotgun of semi-automatic with 20 bullets and stepped into the Art Hall then opened fires that killed 10 and injured at least 10 others including a police officer who is in critical condition, officials said. A teacher is among the dead, according to law enforcement officials.
The suspect, 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, is in custody and has been charged with capital murder, officials said. The suspect allegedly wrote in journals that he wanted to carry out the shooting and then commit suicide, but he gave himself up to authorities, according to Abbott.
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 an probable cause affidavit.
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.
Gov. Greg Abbott called the shooting "one of the most heinous attacks that we've ever seen in the history of Texas schools."
Officials identify suspect in shooting that killed 10 at Texas’ Santa Fe High School
POSTED 8:25 AM, MAY 18, 2018, BY CNN WIRE SERVICE, UPDATED AT 03:08PM, MAY 18, 2018
SANTA FE, Texas — Ten people were killed and 10 others were injured in a shooting Friday morning at a high school in the southeastern Texas city of Santa Fe, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed.
Authorities have said two people have been detained in the shooting at Santa Fe High School. Federal law enforcement officials identified one of them as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, and said he is suspected of having fired the shots.
The alleged shooter used a shotgun and a revolver that were legally owned by his father, Abbott told reporters. Two school resource officers were on the campus and confronted the shooter “early on in the process,” Abbott said.
He said the investigators have found journals on a computer and cell phone owned by the suspect. The boy indicated he wanted to take his own life after the shooting, the governor said at a news conference.
The governor offered his sympathies to the victims then called for lawmakers and others to come together to prevent more tragedies.
“We need to do more than just pray for the victims and their families. It’s time in Texas that we take action to step up and make sure this tragedy is never repeated ever again,” Abbott said.
Early morning attack
Gunfire erupted at the school, about 20 miles outside Galveston, not long after classes began around 7:30 a.m. CT, officials said. Authorities later found explosive devices — including pipe bombs and pressure cookers — in and near the school, the law enforcement official said.
A male suspect, believed to be a student, has been arrested in the shooting, and a second person — also believed to be a student — has been detained as well, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
The male that Gonzalez described as a suspect is injured, a law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity.
Investigators believe that the second person, an 18-year-old, may be an accomplice but not a shooter, a law enforcement official said.
Two law enforcement officers are among the injured, according to a law enforcement source.
One man is in critical condition with a gunshot wound in one of his arms, said David Marshall, chief nursing officer for University of Texas Medical Branch hospital.
This is the 22nd US school shooting since the beginning of the year, and the third instance in eight days in which a gunman was on a school campus.
Witnesses described students running from the school as they heard gunshots; they also described hearing an alarm at the school, though the sequence of events wasn’t immediately clear.
Authorities found explosive devices in the high school and in adjacent areas, said Walter Braun, Santa Fe Independent School District police chief. It wasn’t immediately clear if any had exploded.
Because the devices were found, Braun urged people in the city of about 13,000 people to “not touch any items that look out of place, and call 911” if they see something suspicious.
Investigators Friday afternoon were searching a trailer where they believe the devices were assembled, a law enforcement source said.
The school has been cleared of all students and staff, who have been directed to a nearby facility to reunite with their families, Braun said.
Witness: Shooter fired gun in an art class
An armed person walked into an art class at the school and began firing what looked like a shotgun, a witness told CNN affiliate KTRK.
The witness told KTRK she saw a girl shot in the leg.
At least 12 people from the school are being treated at three hospitals, authorities said. Seven people are at Clear Lake Regional Medical in Webster, Texas; two patients are being treated at Mainland Medical Center in Texas City and three patients are at John Sealy University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
Aerial video from the scene showed several police officers outside the school. Some were searching students and their backpacks.
Witnesses describe hearing an alarm as well as gunfire
Angelica Martinez, a 14-year-old student, told CNN she and her schoolmates were being evacuated at one point “like it’s a fire drill.”
“We were all standing (outside), but not even five minutes later, we started hearing gunshots,” she said. “And then everybody starts running, but like the teachers are telling us to stay put, but we’re all just running away.”
“I didn’t see anybody shooting, but like (the gunshots) were kind of spaced,” Angelica said, adding she heard about four shots.
The witness who spoke to KTRK also said she heard an alarm. She didn’t specify if that was before or after the gunfire she described in the art class.
She said she couldn’t describe the shooter.
“I didn’t look. I just ran,” she said.
Another student, Dakota Shrader, told CNN affiliate KPRC that she heard gunshots only after hearing an alarm in the school.
“I was in the history hallway, and as soon as we heard the alarms, everybody just started leaving following the same procedure as … (a) practice fire drill,” Shrader said, breaking into tears. “And next thing you know, we just hear … three gunshots, loud explosions, and all the teachers are telling us to run.”
The entire school district is on lockdown, district officials said.
The high school has about 1,400 students, according to GreatSchools.org.
Three shootings in eight days
Friday’s shooting was the third at a US school in recent days.
On Wednesday, an Illinois school resource officer shot and wounded a former student who fired a weapon near a graduation rehearsal at Dixon High School, authorities said. The suspected gunman faces three charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm.
On May 11, a 14-year-old boy in In Palmdale, California, went to Highland High, his former school, and began shooting a semiautomatic rifle shortly before classes began, authorities said. He was taken into custody and is accused of attempted murder. One person was wounded.
President Trump: Mass shootings have been ‘going on too long in our country’
President Donald Trump addressed the school shooting in Santa Fe Friday, saying that mass shootings have been “going on too long.”
“Unfortunately, I have to begin by expressing our sadness and heartbreak over the deadly shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas,” President Trump said from the East Room of the White House. “This has been going on too long in our country. Too many years. Too many decades now.”
President Trump said federal authorities are coordinating with local officials.
“We grieve for the terrible loss of life and send our support to everyone affected by this absolutely horrific attack,” President Trump said.