Texas School Shooting: 10 Killed, 10 Wounded, Suspect Charged

A 17-year-old student is in custody, suspected of using a shotgun and revolver to kill 10 people and injure 10 others inside a south Texas high school Friday morning in what Gov. Greg Abbott says is "one of the most heinous attacks that we've ever seen in the history of Texas schools."

The suspected shooter, who was in custody on murder charges, also had explosive devices that were found in the school and nearby, Abbott said.

"It's impossible to describe the magnitude of the evil of someone who would attack innocent children in a school, a place of learning where a parent should be able to send their children without fear for their child's safety," Abbott said.

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.

One of the injured in Friday's shooting was school resource officer John Barnes, who was shot in the arm when he engaged the gunman. Doctors said Barnes was in stable condition Friday afternoon, but later updated that he was in critical condition.

Officials have not released the names of all of the victims.

Pagourtzis made his initial court appearance Friday evening via closed circuit video from the Galveston County Jail. He did not enter a plea. The judge denied bond and also took Pagourtzis' application for a court-appointed attorney.

In the aftermath officials found several low-tech explosive devices both on and off campus that were being rendered harmless by bomb technicians. Abbott described two of the devices as a Molotov cocktail and a CO2 device and said they were found both in the school and nearby. Other devices were found, Abbott said, though he didn't elaborate on what those devices were.

Officials later confirmed that four pipe bombs had been found inside the school but that none of them exploded. It's unclear whether any of the devices were capable of detonation.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Pagourtzis told investigators that when he opened fire at Santa Fe High School on Friday morning, "he did not shoot students he did like so he could have his story told."

Friday's assault is the deadliest in Texas since a man with a semi-automatic rifle attacked a church in Sutherland Springs, near San Antonio, late last year, killing more than two dozen people.






Disclaimer: Stories culled and pictures posted on this blog will be given due credit and is not the fault of drifternews.blogspot.com if website culled from misrepresents source of story.