Gunman (17) kills 10 at high school
US: Gun control debate reignited
SANTA FE: The 17yearold pupil charged with killing 10 people when he opened fire in an art class at his Houstonarea high school appeared ‘‘weirdly nonemotional’’ on the morning after the rampage, one of his lawyers said yesterday.
The teenager, identified by police as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, has been charged with capital murder and is being held without bail in Santa Fe, Texas, where authorities said he went on a shooting spree shortly before 8am local time on Friday (1am Saturday New Zealand time).
In addition to killing 10 people, the gunman wounded at least 13, two of them critically.
Nicholas Poehl, one of two lawyers hired by the suspect’s parents to represent him, told Reuters he had spent one hour with Pagourtzis over the weekend.
‘‘He’s very emotional and weirdly nonemotional,’’ the attorney said when asked to describe his client’s state of mind.
‘‘There are aspects of it he understands and there are aspects he doesn’t understand.’’
As the shooting unfolded, Pagourtzis spared people he liked so he could have his side of the story told, a charging document showed.
A mother of one of the victims told the Los Angeles Times that her daughter, Shana Fisher (16), had rejected four months of aggressive advances from Pagourtzis.
She finally stood up to him and embarrassed him in class, the newspaper quoted her mother, Sadie Rodriguez, as writing in a private message.
‘‘A week later he opens fire on everyone he didn’t like,’’ she said, ‘‘Shana being the first one.’’
Rodriguez could not be reached for comment.
Pagourtzis’ family said in a statement they were ‘‘saddened and dismayed’’ by the shooting and ‘‘as shocked as anyone else’’ by the events. They were cooperating with authorities.
‘‘While we remain mostly in the dark about the specifics . . . what we have learned from media reports seems incompatible with the boy we love.’’
Investigators had seen a photo of a Tshirt that read ‘‘Born to Kill’’ on the suspect’s Facebook page and authorities were examining his journal, Texas governor Greg Abbott told reporters, but there were no outward signs he had been planning an attack.
Pagourtzis waived his right to remain silent and made a statement to authorities admitting to the shooting.
Asked if Pagourtzis had provided authorities with information about the shootings, Poehl said: ‘‘Honestly because of his emotional state, I don’t have a lot on that.’’
Santa Fe High School, southeast of Houston, became the scene of the fourthmost deadly mass shooting at a United States public school in modern history.
The Texas rampage again stoked the country’s longrunning debate over gun ownership, three months after a studentled gun control movement emerged from a mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed.
In a letter to parents but posted on the district’s website yesterday, Superintendent Leigh Wall said eight of the dead were pupils and two were teachers. Authorities had earlier said that nine pupils and one teacher were killed.
Classmates at the school of some 1460 pupils described Pagourtzis as a quiet loner who played on the football team. On the day of the shooting, they said he wore a trench coat to school as temperatures topped 32degC.
Governor Abbott told reporters Pagourtzis obtained firearms from his father, who had likely acquired them legally, and also left behind explosive devices.
Abbott said Pagourtzis wanted to commit suicide, citing his journals, but did not have the courage to do so. — Reuters