Town mourns after mass shooting

Texas teen targeted students he didn’t like

SANTA FE, Texas – Residents of this farm-lined quiet city awoke Saturday with the realization that they now belong to the cadre of mass shootings sites.

Some students are still healing from bullet wounds and facing surgery. Others are getting ready to attend funeral services for slain classmates a day after police say a 17-year-old student opened fire in the halls of Santa Fe High School, killing 10 people and wounding 13 others.

It was the worst mass school shooting since the rampage at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in February, left 17 dead, and the worst in Texas since a sniper killed 16 people and wounded 31 from atop of the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin in 1966.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, was taken into custody after the attack on charges of capital murder and aggravated assault of a peace officer. Authorities say they do not have a motive, but Pagourtzis confessed, admitting to officers he targeted students he didn’t like, court records show.

The investigation is likely to center on the electronic trail the teen left on his computer and cellphone and what he tells investigators.

It’s unclear whether he continued to cooperate with authorities after the incident.

Authorities spent much of Friday checking for explosive devices that they say Pagourtzis left at the school and around the area.

But Galveston County Judge Mark Henry said Saturday that authorities found a group of carbon dioxide canisters taped together, and a pressure cooker with an alarm clock and nails inside.

But Henry said the canisters had no detonation device and the pressure cooker had no explosive material.

A coldblooded killer described as yelling “surprise!” before opening fire differed from the portrait painted by fellow students who knew the suspect. Pagourtzis was described as quiet and an athlete, but few thought the student was capable of such violence.