Grieving community reflects as new shooting details emerge
Officers praised for quick response as district delays return to classes
SANTA FE — Some huddled in prayer. Others bowed their heads, fighting to hold back tears, as they encircled the 10 crosses lined up along the grounds of Santa Fe High School.
The statewide moment of silence Monday was, for this Galveston County community, a time of reflection for the friends and educators they’d lost.
“It’s a start,” said Alex Cravey, 16, a junior at Santa Fe High School, who joined hands around the crosses. “There’s no way we’re ever going to be able to heal from this.”
The grieving surged anew Monday as details unfolded about the mass shooting Friday at Santa Fe High School that left 10 dead and 13 injured. Of the quick four-minute response by officers who eventually subdued the 17year-old student, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, now charged in the killings. Of heroes who died or nearly lost their lives protecting others. Of memorials to attend and funerals to be planned.
Hoping time will heal, Santa Fe ISD officials further delayed the return to classes, announcing students would not go back to the school until May 29, 12 days after the shootings. Teachers and staff will return this Wednesday, though some areas may remain under scrutiny from
The school system offered counseling and comfort dogs, hotlines and special assistance, and local officials tried to answer the questions that remain for those affected by the shooting. Four of the injured remain hospitalized, two students and two adults, including Santa Fe ISD police officer John Barnes.
“We are all in this together,” said Mayor-elect Jason Tabor. “We are hurt but not broken. We are definitely resilient. Continue to pray for us and please keep shining us with love. We are Santa Fe Strong.”
Waiting for a phone call
Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset said Monday that officers found the shooter within four minutes and exchanged gunfire with him before he was subdued and taken into custody.
Trochesset, making his first public comments since the shooting on Friday, appeared visibly distraught as he praised the more than 200 law enforcement officers who responded to the scene.
“The heroes from that ISD engaged this individual in approximately four minutes and stayed engaged with him, keeping him contained and engaged so that other heroes that continued to arrive could evacuate the teachers, the administrators and the students from this school,” Trochesset said.
Barnes — a veteran Houston police officer who took the school job in January after retiring — was injured in the shooting after he and another officer cornered Pagourtzis at the art room. Barnes’ arm was severely damaged by the shotgun blast, and he has undergone several surgeries.
Trochesset said officials do not believe any of the 10 victims were killed by crossfire from law enforcement but that they won’t know for sure until autopsies are completed. Pagourtzis remains in the Galveston County Jail under suicide watch, charged with capital murder and aggravated assault of a police officer.
Pagourtzis told officers he was the gunman, saying he avoided shooting those he liked so they “could tell his story.”
Trochesset and Santa Fe ISD Police Chief Walter Braun cautioned that some details about the shooting will not be made public until the investigation is complete. Federal officials are also investigating the case, particularly explosive devices that failed to ignite during the rampage.
Trochesset — the county’s top law enforcement officer — spoke of his personal connection to the case. His granddaughter was three doors down from the classroom where the shooting occurred, he said, and one of the victims was the girl’s close friend.
He described the anxiety of waiting on a phone call notifying family that she was safe.
“Anybody wants to hear their heart stop and see how long they cannot breathe? Wait until that phone call comes in,” he said.
‘Grammy, you will be missed’
Details continued to unfold, as well, about those caught up in the shooting.
League City Police Detective Recie Tisdale released a letter Monday about his mother, teacher Cynthia Tisdale, 63, who was among those killed. Cynthia Tisdale worked at the school and also served as a caregiver for her husband of 46 years, who has a debilitating lung condition.
The detective said his daughter attends Santa Fe High School and his wife works for the school district. His mother deinvestigators. cided to work for the district to help children.
“The community of Santa Fe is a large part of our lives,” he said. “She worked at the school not out of necessity but for the love of teaching and helping others. To know my mom was to know a person who lived to help those in need. We all loved our mother very much. Grammy, you will be missed.”
The officer said he responded to the shooting along with other League City police and eventually concluded that his mother was among those killed.
“It was very hard to go from assisting others to being horribly affected by this tragic event,” he said in the letter. “There are no words to explain how saddened my entire family is for all those involved. (Our) prayers and thoughts are with everyone affected.”
Brenda Yanez, however, the mother of a Santa Fe student, challenged officials Monday about how to reassure parents their children will be safe.
“(My daughter) was in the art room when all this was going on, in storage hiding, and she’s very traumatized like many others in the subdivision where we live,” Yanez said, tears streaming down her face. “How do we as parents deal with that and approach that?”
Santa Fe ISD Superintendent Leigh Wall said the district is drafting a plan to help students and said they would not be penalized for missing class.
“We are going to do anything we can for our kids,” she said, “and to help our kids emotionally and socially as we move forward.”