Texas school gunman ‘confused,’ his lawyers say

SANTA FE, United States: The gunman accused of killing 10 people and wounding 13 at a Texas high school last week was in a state of mental confusion, his attorneys said Monday, as schools beefed up security for students returning to classrooms.

At least two of those wounded in Friday’s mass shooting at Santa Fe High School were still hospitalized, including school police officer John Barnes, who remained in critical condition, said the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a student at the school, faces charges of capital murder and aggravated assault of a public servant. He is alleged to have used his father’s legally owned shotgun and revolver in the rampage.

Pagourtzis’s attorneys told reporters Monday that their client was “in a state,” while the sheriff in the southeast Texas county of Galveston said the 17year-old was being held “under suicide watch.”

“I think that there is definitely something going on in terms of mental health history,” attorney Nicholas Poehl told NBC News.

“I still think he’s very confused about the incident.”

Law enforcement offered a new timeline of the rampage, saying that two school police officers challenged the gunman four minutes after the attack began.

A gun battle ensued, with the gunman in a classroom and officers in the hallway, Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset told a news conference.

“They contained him in that one area, isolated,” he said, “so that he did no more damage to other classes.”

Recalling the attack on ABC television’s “Good Morning America,” student Trenton Beazely said the shooter “was playing music, making jokes, had slogans and rhymes he kept saying.”

“Every time he’d kill someone he’d say, ‘another one bites the dust.’”

Several Texas school administrators announced new safety measures as nervous parents sent children back to school.