Texas school shooter could not kill himself

THE 17-year-old who killed 10 people and injured 10 others at a Texas High School told police he had intended to kill himself but did not have the courage.

The shooting at the Santa Fe High School on Friday was the nation’s deadliest such attack since the massacre in Florida that gave rise to a campaign by teenagers for gun control.

The suspected shooter, who was in custody on murder charges, also had explosive devices, said Governor Greg Abbott.

The killings, by shotgun and pistol, were all but certain to re-ignite the national debate over gun regulations, coming just three months after the Parkland, Florida, attack that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Santa Fe is a city of about 13,000 people, roughly 30 miles southeast of Houston.

The wounded included a school police officer who was first to confront the suspect.

Zachary Muehe was in his art class when he heard three loud booms.

He told The New York Times that a student he knew from football was armed with a shotgun and wearing a shirt emblazoned with the slogan ‘Born to Kill.’

The suspected shooter is named as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who appeared to have no prior arrests or confrontations with law enforcement.

Mr Pagourtzis played on the junior 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.

The assailant’s homemade explosives, found in the school and nearby, included pipe bombs, at least one Molotov cocktail and pressure-cooker bombs similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack, authorities said.

Survivors of the Florida attack took to social media to express grief and outrage in the aftermath.

Texas has some of the most permissive gun laws in the US and just hosted the National Rifle Association’s annual conference earlier this month.