Texas school shooting: 10 dead after gunman opens fire at Santa Fe High School
SANTA FE, Texas -- A 17-year-old boy carrying a shotgun and a revolver opened fire at a Houston-area high school Friday, killing 10 people, most of them students, in the nation's deadliest such attack since the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that gave rise to a campaign by teens for gun control.
Governor Greg Abbott confirmed 10 fatalities and said an additional 10 people were injured in the mass shooting at Santa Fe High School. Law enforcement sources identified the gunman as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who was taken into custody alive. Abbot said he also had explosive devices, including a Molotov cocktail, that were found in the school and nearby. He called the assault "one of the most heinous attacks that we've ever seen in the history of Texas schools."
MORE: What we know school shooting suspect Dimitrios Pagourtzis
Authorities offered no immediate motive for the shooting. Abbott said the assailant intended to kill himself but gave up and told police that he did not have the courage to take his own life.
Witnesses said the shooting took place in an art class on campus between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m. Students were evacuated from the building and backpacks were searched before they were transported to Alamo Gym at 13306 Highway 6 to be reunited with their parents. The school went on lockdown around 8 a.m.
VIDEO: Students escorted out by law enforcement
Michael Farina, 17, said he was on the other side of campus when the shooting began and thought it was a fire drill. He was holding a door open for special education students in wheelchairs when a principal came bounding down the hall and telling everyone to run. Another teacher yelled out, "It is real!"
Students were led to take cover behind a car shop across the street from the school. Some still did not feel safe and began jumping the fence behind the shop to run even farther away, Farina said.
"I debated doing that myself," he said.
Pagourtzis, who was charged with murder, played on the Santa Fe High School junior varsity football team and was a member of a dance squad with a local Greek Orthodox church. Acquaintances described him as quiet and unassuming, an avid video game player who routinely wore a black trench coat and black boots to class.
President Donald Trump offered his condolences amid the tragedy.
The suspect used a shotgun and .38-revolver obtained from his father, who owned them legally, Abbott said. It was not clear whether the father knew his son had taken them.
One or two other people of interest were being interviewed about the shooting, Abbott said.
Santa Fe is roughly 36 miles outside of Houston. According to the Texas Education Agency, the high school enrollment is about 1,400 students.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
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