Judge: Teen confesses to Texas school shootings
SANTA FE, Texas — A 17-year-old student who authorities said confessed to killing 10 people at a Houston-area high school was being held in isolation Saturday as the community continued to mourn.
Two bombs that Dimitrios Pagourtzis allegedly brought to Santa Fe High School on Friday were “intended to be IEDs,” improvised explosive devices, but turned out to be “nonfunctional,” Galveston County Judge Mark Henry said Saturday.
Pagourtzis, who had allegedly posted images of guns and a T-shirt with the words “BORN TO KILL” on social media in the weeks before the shooting, is being held without bond while facing charges of capital murder and aggravated assault on a public servant.
His schoolmates were allowed to return to the school Saturday to retrieve their abandoned belongings. After surrendering to police at the school, Pagourtzis waived his right to remain silent and confessed to the shooting, authorities said. His motive remains unclear.
Pagourtzis said “he did not shoot students he did like so he could have his story told,” according to a probable-cause statement.
Henry questioned the suspected shooter at his initial court appearance Friday. Pagourtzis answered the judge’s questions, admitting the shooting, but said little else, Henry said.
Eight of the 10 victims were students: Jared Black, Shana Fisher, Christian Riley Garcia, Aaron Kyle McLeod, Angelique Ramirez, Sabika Sheikh, Christopher Jake Stone and Kimberly Vaughan. The other two, Glenda Perkins and Cynthia Tisdale, were teachers.
The Pagourtzis family said in a statement Saturday, “We are as shocked and confused as anyone else by these events that occurred” while offering prayers and condolences to the victims.
The family said it remained “mostly in the dark about the specifics of yesterday’s tragedy” but “what we have learned from media reports seems incompatible with the boy we love.”
Officials also increased the number of reported injuries at Friday’s shooting from 10 to 13.
Walter Braun, chief of the school district’s police department, declined to answer questions about the police response to the shooting or whether the department had seen any warning signs from Pagourtzis before the attack.
While the school was now believed to be free of explosives, all district schools will remain closed until at least Tuesday as officials sort through the crime scene.