By Brittney Martin, Mark Berman, Joel Achenbach and Amy B Wang, The Washington Post
This time, it happened during first period.
The day after a student went on a shooting rampage at a Texas high school, a Houston-area community grappled with a horrific reality that has unfolded in so many other places across the nation.
On Friday morning, a 17-year-old student armed with a shotgun and a pistol stormed Santa Fe High School, about 30 miles southeast of Houston, and opened fire in an art class, officials said.
The gunman killed 10 people and wounded at least 10 others, including a school resource officer who was left in critical condition, police said, before surrendering to the officers who confronted him.
Of those killed, eight were students and two were teachers, Santa Fe Independent School District Superintendent Leigh Wall said in a letter to parents.
“Our community has suffered a terrible tragedy,” Wall wrote. “We are all feeling the overwhelming grief of this horrific event.”
Late Saturday afternoon, officials identified those killed as teachers Glenda Perkins and Cynthia Tisdale, and students Jared Black, Shana Fisher, Christian Riley Garcia, Aaron Kyle McLeod, Angelique Ramirez, Sabika Sheikh, Christopher Jake Stone and Kimberly Vaughan.
(A 17-year-old student allegedly opened fire at Santa Fe High School in Texas this morning, where at least 10 others were wounded, including a police officer. Courtesy of ABC News and YouTube. Posted on May 19, 2018)
Santa Fe High School became the latest scene of carnage in what has become a national epidemic of mass shootings. For the second time in the past three months, the victims were children and their teachers.
The tragedy prompted an outpouring of grief and outrage — a candlelight vigil, statements of sympathy and anger from elected officials, heart-rending posts from relatives of the deceased — as well as, for some, a quiet resignation that the previously unthinkable had morphed into an inevitability.
“It’s been happening everywhere,” one Santa Fe student, Paige Curry, said with a shrug after the shooting. “I’ve always kind of felt like eventually it was going to happen here, too.”
(A Santa Fe school shooting survivor has given a heartbreaking interview saying she always expected to be shot at eventually. Paige Curry said she wasn’t at all surprised by the shooting that unfolded at her Santa Fe High School when a student opened fire on Friday, killing at least 10 people. The 17-year-old, who was just three classrooms away from where the shooting unfolded, was on the verge of tears when she spoke to an ABC reporter in the aftermath. Courtesy of Daily Mail and YouTube. Posted on May 18, 2018)
At Santa Fe, it happened with less than two weeks to go before the end of the school year.
Isabelle Laymance, 15, was in art class, drawing geometric shapes, when she heard gunshots Friday morning. She froze for a moment, then she ran to a back door leading to a patio, but it was locked.
She and seven other students barricaded themselves in a supply closet that connected two art classrooms. She lay on the floor and called police, then called her mother, whispering “I love you” while holding a friend’s hand. They shushed each other, hoping to avoid detection.
The trench-coat-clad gunman — police identified the suspect as student Dimitrios Pagourtzis Jr. — came into the first art classroom and began shooting. He knew students were hiding in the supply closet, Isabelle said.
(NBC News talks about suspected Santa Fe High School gunman Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who reportedly complained about being bullied before opening fire. Courtesy of MSNBC and YouTube. Posted on May 18, 2018)
“He said, ‘Surprise,’ and then he started shooting, and he killed one or two people. And he shot a girl in the leg. In the closet. He shot through the window,” she said.
“We blocked the doors with ceramic makers, and he kept on trying to get in and he kept on shooting inside the closet.”
She called police three times over the course of 30 terrifying minutes. A police dispatcher told her to be quiet and assured her that help was on the way, she said.
The gunman kept shooting, cursing and yelling. He shot a police officer who approached, then engaged other officers in discussion, offering to surrender.
“He kept saying ‘If I come out, don’t shoot me.’ They didn’t shoot him; they just put him in handcuffs,” she said.
Pagourtzis, whom students described as a quiet loner, is being held without bond at the Galveston County Jail, charged with capital murder and aggravated assault on a peace officer.
It was unclear what motivated the attack, as authorities said it came without any obvious warning.
(Isabelle Laymance was in art class when she heard gunshots. She and seven other students barricaded themselves in a supply closet in Santa Fe High School on May 18. Courtesy of The Washington Post and YouTube. Posted on May 18, 2018)
Pagourtzis made his first court appearance Friday evening, a little more than 10 hours after the massacre.
He spoke quietly, saying, “Yes, sir,” when asked if he wanted a court-appointed attorney. After the brief hearing, Pagourtzis was led away.
Police said Pagourtzis gave a statement admitting responsibility for the shooting, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed in court.
They said that Pagourtzis told police that he went into the school wearing a trench coat and wielding two guns, intent on killing people.
The affidavit states that the 17-year-old told police that “he did not shoot students he did like so he could have his story told.”
The two guns used in the shooting belong to Pagourtzis’s father, according to Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who said it was unclear if the father knew his son had taken them.
(Texas school shooting suspect is charged with capital murder after 10 people are killed at Santa Fe High School. Courtesy of Fox News and YouTube. Posted on May 19, 2018)
Unlike many other mass shootings carried out with high-powered rifles such as the AR-15, this one, authorities said, included relatively common weapons.
Police said they also found explosive devices inside the school and at locations off campus.
Authorities said they also were scrutinizing two other potential suspects in the shooting.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said officials questioned another student, described as “a person of interest.” Abbott said police also hoped to speak with a third person who he said could have “certain information,” though he did not elaborate.
As families mourn, stories of the victims have begun to emerge.
The Embassy of Pakistan confirmed Friday evening that Sheikh, a Pakistani exchange student, was killed in the attack.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Sabika’s family and friends,” Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said in a statement.
(10 people were killed and 10 were injured in a shooting at Santa Fe High School. Sabika Sheikh, an exchange student from Pakistan, was one of those killed. Courtesy of CGTN and YouTube. Posted on May 19, 2018)
Another exchange student, Sayyed Zaman Haider, said Sabika was from Karachi City and was studying through the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program, funded by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
A spokesman for the bureau did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Haider said Sheikh was about to return home: The academic year was ending, so she was almost done with her cultural exchange.
Tisdale, 63, was a substitute teacher at Santa Fe High School. She worked at the school frequently, her son Recie Tisdale said.
“She started substitute teaching because she loved to help children,” he said. “She didn’t have to do it. She did it because she loved it.”
Recie Tisdale is a police detective in nearby League City. His mother lived in neighboring Dickinson, with her husband of nearly 47 years, William Tisdale.
The couple had three children and 11 grandchildren. William Tisdale said his wife had also been a paralegal for 22 years.
“She was a good woman,” he said. “She watched out for me.”
(Rey Montemayer, a Santa Fe High School student who played football with the victims and shooter, reflects on the day his community experienced a mass shooting.
Less than two weeks ago, Garcia, 15, had posed amid what appeared to be a house undergoing construction, next to scripture he had scrawled on the door frame for what would be his new bedroom, according to his church.
On Friday, he was killed in the attack, the church confirmed.
Ramirez, another Santa Fe student who was gunned down in the shooting, was remembered as a “kind, compassionate and caring” teenager with a contagious smile, a family friend wrote in a GoFundMe set up for Angelique’s family.
Stone, 17, was also killed in the attack, his family confirmed to The Washington Post. A versatile football player, Chris also delighted in video games, hiking, jet skiing, parasailing and zip-lining, they said.
Though he was youngest of three siblings — a trio known as the “three Stones” — Chris protected his two older siblings with the ferocity of an older brother, Mercedez Stone, one of his sisters, said in a Facebook message.
“He had lot of heart,” she said. “Being a brother was his best job. He was always there if someone needed someone to listen or some cheering up. Definitely the life of the party, and one of the most understanding, open-minded kids I know.”
Chris had just attended his junior prom a week ago, she added.
Three officers responded to the attack, officials said.
The first to confront the shooter was school safety officer John Barnes, a retired Houston police officer who, according to a former colleague, Houston Police Capt. Jim Dale, joined the Santa Fe Independent School District police force because he wanted a less-stressful job.
Barnes was shot in both arms, Dale said. A second Santa Fe ISD officer arrived, pulled Barnes to safety and applied a tourniquet. A third officer, a state trooper, also engaged the gunman, according to a state police official.
Barnes was taken by helicopter to the trauma center at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he was in danger of “bleeding out” when he arrived, chief medical officer Gulshan Sharma told reporters.
Dale said many officers descended upon the hospital to show their support and that the family is in good spirits after hearing from doctors that Barnes’s injuries probably were not fatal.
Officials have not yet provided a timeline showing how long it took to respond to the active-shooter emergency calls, nor have they disclosed many details about their interactions with the shooter.
(At least ten people are dead after a student allegedly opened fire at Santa Fe High School in Texas this morning, sending students fleeing for their lives, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. Courtesy of ABC Action and News and YouTube. Posted on May 18, 2018)
At a news conference Saturday, Santa Fe ISD Police Chief Walter Braun deferred most questions about the shooting to the FBI, which he said was leading the investigation.
Police had been busy individually escorting Santa Fe students back on campus Saturday so they could retrieve cars and belongings they had left behind as they fled the school Friday, he said.
“Our officers have been very, very resilient,” Braun told reporters. “I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet as to allowing the emotions to take control.”
Santa Fe High School, home of the Indians, had won a statewide award for its safety program.
As an ominous precursor to Friday’s shooting, the school had experienced a false alarm about an active shooter in February, an event that attracted a massive emergency response and the chaotic arrival of fearful parents.
Many of the 1,400 students had staged a walkout April 20 as part of a nationwide school shootings protest, part of a grass-roots movement among young Americans in the wake of the February massacre of 17 students and staffers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
One sign carried by Santa Fe students during their April protest: “#NeverAgain.”
Four Fridays later, their school was attacked.
(CAUTION: *This film covers topics that some viewers may find upsetting. Please pre-watch before showing in the classroom.* Schools should be safe havens. But unfortunately for millions of children around the world school is a place of violence and danger – signal your support for making schools safe by joining the 2018 Send My Friend campaign today. This film is designed for use in a secondary school class as part of the Send My Friend campaign – go to sendmyfriend.org/take-action/ to download your full Teacher’s Pack for free (containing activity sheets, case studies, ideas & more). Courtesy of Send My Friend to School and YouTube. Posted on May 19, 2018)
Gage Slaughter, 17, said he was sitting in his Advanced Placement history class when the shooting started. When he heard the gunshots, he thought — as is so often the case in mass shootings — that it was just firecrackers.
Someone pulled a fire alarm, he said, and everyone went outside. Then a coach and some teachers told the students to start running.
“There were people who were starting to cry,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going on until I was down the road a little ways and I heard one of the teachers saying it was a school shooter.”
In the hours that followed, heavily armed officers in tactical gear surrounded the school.
Authorities said they found explosives in the high school and in surrounding areas, and put out warnings on social media for people to avoid touching anything unfamiliar.
Parents were picking up their children early from other schools in the area as they reeled from the horror that had come to their community.
“I just need to cuddle [my] baby girl,” said Catharine Lindsey, a parent who lives nearby and said she could hear the rescue helicopters from her home.
“Ever since Parkland, I’ve had to tell my 13-year-old daughter to ‘not be a hero, to hide and stay safe with teacher’ if something like this happens, because she’s the type who would try and talk the shooter down.”
This was the 16th school shooting so far this year, according to a Washington Post analysis.
That’s the highest number at this point in any year since 1999, the year of the Columbine High School massacre.
The Post’s analysis found that since 1999, shootings during school hours have killed at least 141 children, educators and other people, with another 284 injured.
(The suspect’s parents released a statement saying they are shocked and confused by what happened and extend their heartfelt prayers and condolences to all of the victims. Courtesy of ABC News and YouTube. Posted on May 20, 2018)
Among the injured was sophomore Rome Shubert, a pitcher on the school’s baseball team, who said that a bullet grazed his head.
“I’m so grateful and blessed that God spared my life today,” Shubert wrote in a tweet. “Today I was shot in the back of the head but I am completely okay and stable.”
“AMERICA HAS TO TAKE A STAND,” the mother of #SantaFeShooting survivor says our nation’s schools must be safe. @rome_shubert17 says he’s grateful to be among the living after suffering a gunshot wound to his head. LIVE COVERAGE -> https://t.co/S9UoljRLgu. #abc13 #hounews pic.twitter.com/PXNZzTdDnA
— Steve Campion (@SteveABC13) May 18, 2018
On Friday night, students gathered at a vigil here wearing T-shirts, made after Hurricane Harvey, that read “Texas Tough.” On the back: “Indians got your back.”
The shooting immediately drew condemnation nationwide. President Trump quickly decried the Texas shooting.
“This has been going on too long in our country — too many years, too many decades now,” Trump said in Washington. “We grieve for the terrible loss of life and send our support and love to everyone affected by this absolutely horrific attack.”
In Santa Fe, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said: “Once again Texas has seen the face of evil.”
Late Friday, Houston Texans football star J.J. Watt offered to personally cover funeral costs for all of the victims from the Santa Fe shooting.
(Students and neighbors held a vigil for the 10 victims of the Santa Fe High School massacre. Here are the stories of those killed in the attack. Courtesy of CBS Evening News and YouTube. Posted on May 19, 2018)
In a fiery Facebook post, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo wrote of his frustration over the lack of action on gun-control legislation, after spending the day shedding “tears of sadness, pain and anger.”
“I know some have strong feelings about gun rights but I want you to know I’ve hit rock bottom and I am not interested in your views as it pertains to this issue,” Acevedo wrote.
“Please do not post anything about guns aren’t the problem and there’s little we can do. … I will continue to speak up and will stand up for what my heart and my God commands me to do, and I assure you he hasn’t instructed me to believe that gun-rights are bestowed by him.”
(Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo joins moderator Margaret Brennan to discuss the school shooting in Santa Fe and what needs to be done to prevent school shootings. Courtesy of Face The Nation and YouTube. Posted on May 20, 2018)
In his jail booking photo, Pagourtzis, the suspect, wore a blank expression, as if bored.
On a Facebook page, Pagourtzis had posted a photograph of a T-shirt saying “Born to Kill,” the governor said during a Friday news conference. But Abbott said the suspect did not have a criminal record or show signs of being violent.
He said that in this case there weren’t the kind of red flags seen in other mass shootings, such as the one last year at a church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., or the one in Parkland.
To the students and faculty of Santa Fe High School, we are with you. #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/3DYXOhmwsP
— March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) May 18, 2018
On Saturday, the Pagourtzis family released a statement saying it is “shocked and confused” by what happened and that the incident “seems incompatible with the boy we love.”
Pagourtzis had been a member of Santa Fe’s junior varsity football team, and had spent a lot of time in the weight room to get stronger, a teammate said.
“He worked hard, even got stronger than me,” Rey Montemayor, 18, told The Post. “He would joke around but was also quiet — not an open book.”
Several teammates had been caught in the shooting, Montemayor said Saturday as he held up a photo of the football team from 2016. Among those were his friend, Stone, who died, and at least two other football players who had been injured, he said.
It remained unclear Saturday if the gunman targeted certain students.
(Andrew Pollack, father of teen killed in Parkland shooting, speaks out on ‘The Story’ about the need to protect the perimeters of schools. Courtesy of Fox News and YouTube. Posted on May 18, 2018)
The suspect documented his thoughts on his computer and cellphone, and the writings revealed not only that he intended to commit the shooting but also planned to commit suicide, the governor said.
He said the shooter didn’t have the “courage” to follow through on the suicide.
Experts on mass shootings note that the killers study their predecessors, copy their moves and even their fashion choices. The shooter at Santa Fe High appeared to copy elements of the Columbine massacre: a black trench coat, a shotgun, explosives.
More than 30 shooters have copied the Columbine killers and admitted they’d done so, according to Adam Lankford, a criminology professor at the University of Alabama.
“This seems like actually a more extreme version because of all of the different elements that seem to be copied, from clothing to weapons and modus operandi in terms of planting bombs,” Lankford said.
“It’s a form of celebrity worship. The celebrities in this case are celebrity killers — the Columbine killers.”
Abbott said he will convene a roundtable of experts to discuss ways to stave off another school shooting, including speeding up background checks on gun buyers, putting more money into mental-health treatment, and adding security personnel.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) said infrastructure is a problem: Schools have too many entrances and exits and need to be retrofitted.
“We may need to harden our schools and make them safer,” Patrick said.
Cable news and social media were dominated Friday by painfully familiar images of students being led out of the school by armed officers.
Survivors of the Parkland massacre and their relatives, many of whom have become outspoken advocates for stronger gun-control laws, publicly offered support to the Santa Fe community — and sent angry messages to politicians they said have not acted to avert such massacres.
(Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School react as more details emerge from the school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas. Courtesy of The Associated Press and YouTube. Posted on May 18, 2018)
Berman, Achenbach and Wang reported from Washington. Christian Davenport and Stephanie Kuzydym in Sante Fe, Tex., and Debbie Truong, Ellie Silverman, Whitney Leaming, William Wan, Julie Tate, Alice Crites, Jennifer Jenkins, Jenna Johnson, Susan Svrluga, Emily Wax, Matt Zapotosky, Nick Anderson and Abigail Hauslohner in Washington contributed to this report.
