Father says Texas school shooter victim of bullying

Officials say claims of bullying investigated, found to be untrue

The father of the teen accused of fatally shooting 10 people at a Texas high school last week says his son was a “good boy” who was a victim of bullying.

Antonios Pagourtzis told the Wall Street Journal his son, Dimitrios, was “mistreated” at Santa Fe High School, where the teen opened fire Friday, killing eight students and two teachers. More than a dozen other people were injured.

“I believe that’s what was behind the shooting,” he said.

Pagourtzis told Greece’s Antenna TV that he wished he could have prevented the tragedy.

He said he had asked police to allow him to go into the school during the standoff so his son could kill him instead of students.

“Something must have happened now, this last week,” he told the station. “Somebody probably came and hurt him, and since he was a solid boy, I don’t know what could have happened. I can’t say what happened. All I can say is what I suspect as a father.”

The suspect’s attorney, Nicholas Poehl, said he is investigating whether his client was mistreated by football coaches. The district was quick to reject that theory in a weekend statement.

“It has been brought to the district’s attention that several sources are falsely reporting claims about SFISD high school coaches and bully-like behaviors toward the student shooter,” the district said in a statement. “Administration looked into these claims and confirmed that these reports are untrue.”

The family of one of the victims say they believe their daughter was targeted because she repeatedly rejected the gunman’s advances to date her. Sadie Rodriguez, the mother of Shana Fisher, 16, told the Los Angeles Times the shooting came after four months of advances from Pagourtzis.

As the horror unfolded, Pagourtzis roamed from classroom to classroom, taunting students and blasting away as they tried to elude his barrage of gunfire.

About a half hour after the shooting began, Pagourtzis gave himself up, telling authorities he had targeted students he didn’t like.

An investigation is continuing, but Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset said he does not believe that any victims were caught in a cross fire and felled by police bullets.

“I don’t believe any of the individuals that were killed were from law enforcement,” Trochesset said. “I can’t give that in full until after the autopsy.”

Trochesset said “minimal shots” were fired by officers who pinned down the shooter in a classroom while other officers evacuated the school. He said two school resource officers engaged the gunman about four minutes after the shooting began. One was critically wounded.