Texas high school shooting kills 10

SANTA FE, TEXAS — A 17-yearold armed with a shotgun and a pistol opened fire at a Houston-area high school Friday, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said.

It was the nation's deadliest such attack since the massacre in Florida that gave rise to a campaign by teens for gun control.

The suspected shooter, who was in custody on murder charges, also had explosive devices that were found in the school and nearby, said Gov. Greg Abbott, who called the assault "one of the most heinous attacks that we've ever seen in the history of Texas schools."

Investigators offered no immediate motive for the shooting. The governor said the assailant intended to kill himself but gave up and told police that he did not have the courage to take his own life.

The deaths 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.

Another 10 people were wounded at the school in Santa Fe, a city of about 13,000 people roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston, the governor said. The wounded included a school police officer who was the first to confront the suspect and got shot in the arm. Hospitals reported treating a total of 14 people for injuries related to the shooting.

The gunman yelled "Surprise" before he started shooting, according to Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The suspect was identified as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who appeared to have no prior arrests or confrontations with law enforcement.

A woman who answered the phone at a number associated with the Pagourtzis family declined to speak with the AP. "Give us our time right now, thank you," she said.

Pagourtzis made his initial court appearance Friday evening by video link from the Galveston County Jail. A judge denied bond and took his application for a court-appointed attorney. McCaul, a former federal prosecutor, said he expects the Justice Department to pursue additional charges, possibly involving weapons of mass destruction.

Pagourtzis played on the junior varsity 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 suspect obtained the shotgun and a .38-caliber handgun from his father, who owned them legally, Abbott said. It was not clear whether the father knew his son had taken them.

Investigators were determining whether the shotgun's shortened barrel was legal, Texas Sen. John Cornyn said.

The assailant's homemade explosives included pipe bombs, at least one Molotov cocktail and pressurecooker bombs similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack, authorities said.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Jaclyn Corin, in a tweet, directed her frustration at President Donald Trump, writing "Our children are being MURDERED and you're treating this like a game. This is the 22nd school shooting just this year. DO SOMETHING."