Teen was obsessed with guns, killing

SANTA FE: He was a quiet Texas teenager who danced with his Greek church group and played football. He had a passion for symbology and Japanese history.

On Friday, authorities said, 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis put on a trench coat, walked into an art class at his high school in Santa Fe, near Houston, and shot dead nine pupils and a teacher.

There were no red flags to indicate Pagourtzis was headed for trouble, Governor Greg Abbott said. But social media and journal entries revealed a young man infatuated with guns, determined to kill and to die.

A Facebook post on April 30 showed a T-shirt with “Born to Kill” on it. The page has since been taken down.

Abbott said entries in the teen’s journals, seized by police, showed: “Not only did he want to commit the shooting but he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting.” But, Abbott said, have the courage suicide”.

He said the teenager was armed with a shotgun and a .38 revolver, both taken from his father, possibly without the parent’s knowledge.

One pupil said Pagourtzis was especially fascinated with Japanese imperialism and samurai culture, and interested in mystical and military symbols like the German Iron Cross and hammer and sickle he wore as pins on his clothing.

Classmates said he often wore a trench coat, similar to the one used to conceal the guns carried into the school.

A pupil said Pagourtzis kept to himself and “never really talked to other people”. But Clayton George, 16, said he regularly spoke to him.

“He was one of the nicest guys on the football team, always easy to talk to,” he said.

Pagourtzis has been charged with murder. – Reuters/african News Agency (ANA) “he didn’t to commit