10 People Dead, 10 Wounded After School Shooting In Santa Fe, Texas
SANTA FE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Authorities in southeast Texas responded to Santa Fe High School on Friday morning after reports of an active shooter on the campus. The situation erupted shortly before 8 a.m. at the high school, located between Houston and Galveston, and at least ten people are dead and ten were wounded.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the shooter is 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis.
NEW: Suspected shooter at Santa Fe High School, 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis' mugshot is released. The shooting earlier today left 10 dead and 10 wounded and Pagourtzis is being held on capital murder with no bond pic.twitter.com/xY3WXg49Yc
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 18, 2018
Eleventh grade student Christopher Kurrass told CBS11 News Pagourtzis wasn't an outsider but he wasn't a really popular student either.
"He was actually a pretty nice kid," said Kurrass, who was working on school project in his first period class when the fire alarm went off. "Nobody was expecting this… nobody."
According to assistant principal Dr. Cris Richardson, the shooter has been caught and is no longer in the school building. A second person has also been detained, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, but that individual's connection to the shooting has not been released.
"The campus has been cleared of all students and staff members," said Santa Fe ISD Police Chief Walter Braun.
We are assisting @SantaFeISD with a multiple-casualty incident at Santa Fe High School. This is no longer an active shooting situation and the injured are being treated. #hounews pic.twitter.com/m7Wuauk9jk
— HCSOTexas (@HCSOTexas) May 18, 2018
Leila Butler is a student at the school. She told KTRK-TV in Houston that fire alarms went off and students exited from their classrooms. That is when some students reported hearing gunfire. Butler was sheltered with teachers and other students near the campus when she spoke with the television station.
"As soon as the alarms went off, everybody just started running outside," said student Dakota Shrader. "And next thing you know, everybody looked and you hear 'boom, boom, boom,' and I just ran as fast as I could to the nearest floor so I could hide, and I called my mom."
Other witnesses told KTRK-TV that the shooting happened in an art class, and one student told the television station that a girl was shot. "There was someone that walked in with a shotgun and started shooting," the student said, "and this girl got shot in the leg." That student did not get a good look at the shooter, because she was running to hide.
Law enforcement officials stated that the suspect and detained individual are both students at Santa Fe High School. CBS News reported that law enforcement sources identified the suspected shooter as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis. Police have not released the name of the 18-year-old student who has been detained.
"A kid came out. He had a black-like trench coat on, a sawed-off shotgun with a pistol grip, and I seen something sharp on his chest," recalled student Damon Rabon. "Then, he turned, and instead of looking our way, he just grabbed the backpack and went right back into the art room."
"We shut the door in our classroom, turned off all the lights, did everything we could to get the students safe," continued Rabon. "Then, the teacher actually ran and pulled the fire alarm, because we had no service to call 911 to let anyone know that there was a shooter."
Tyler Turner knows the person who pulled the fire alarm. "He saw a guy walking with a gun, so he pulled the fire alarm," the student said. Turner reported hearing seven gunshots before running to a nearby car wash and meeting his mother. Turner also saw a girl with a bandage around her kneecap get taken away by firefighters.
Another student told KTRK-TV that he heard as many as 15 to 20 gunshots.
"I heard so many people saying there were gunshots and that people were dead," added student Megan Hunter.
Officials said that at least eight people are dead, possibly as many as 10 people dead, and more have been injured. A police officer with the Santa Fe ISD Police Department is among the wounded, Braun said, but the total number of victims has not been confirmed.
Paul Reyes is a spokesperson for UTMB. He explained that three people are being treated at his hospital. That includes the officer in critical condition with a gunshot wound to his arm, a middle-aged female who is in good condition with a gunshot wound to her leg, and a 16-year-old male who is also in good condition with a gunshot wound to his leg.
Dr. David Marshall, chief nursing officer with UTMB, spoke to the media Friday afternoon. He turned visibly emotional when speaking about this incident. "There are a lot of personal feelings that people are having," Marshall said. "As the father of a 16-year-old at Friendswood High School, this hurts."
Another eight students were being treated at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, said medical director Dr. Safi Madain, all suffering gunshot wounds. Six of those patients have already been discharged, and one is in fair condition. Meanwhile, two more patients were treated at Mainland Medical Center in Texas City. They have already been released.
CNN reported that Pagourtzis was also among the injured. Investigators have no record of him purchasing any guns.
President Donald Trump addressed the Santa Fe shooting before a speech on Friday morning. "This has been going on too long in our country, too many years, too many decades now," he stated. "We grieve for the terrible loss of life and send our support to everyone affected by this absolutely horrific attack to the students, families, teachers and personnel."
"We're with you in this tragic hour, and will be with you forever," the President added.
My heart is broken and my prayers are with the students, parents, faculty and first responders at Santa Fe High School. The work of the Federal Commission on School Safety remains urgent. This trend cannot continue. Our nation must come together to keep our students safe. pic.twitter.com/s5u4tcgtDP
— Secretary Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) May 18, 2018
Cameras caught children limping away from the school building. Police officers could be seen escorting a line of students away from the campus. Kids were handing backpacks over to authorities. Teachers were loading children into school buses and taking them to the school district's Alamo Gym to meet up with parents.
A statement from the Santa Fe Independent School District said that the campus was involved in an active shooter incident and had been placed into lockdown. Although the suspect has been taken into custody, law enforcement officials continue to conduct an investigation inside of the building.
The school district and police later confirmed that authorities found suspicious devices in and around the campus. "There have been explosive devices found in the high school and surrounding area adjacent to the high school," Braun said Friday morning. "Community members should be on the lookout for any suspicious items."
Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the devices included pressure cookers and pipe bombs.
Heidi and I are keeping all the students and faculty at Santa Fe High School in our prayers this morning, along with all first responders on the scene. Please be safe and heed warnings from local officials. https://t.co/5Un3Y4IA86
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) May 18, 2018
"It is with great sadness that I stand here today to share with you that we experienced an unthinkable tragedy at our high school this morning," said Dr. Leigh Wall with the Santa Fe ISD on Friday morning. "We are grieving the loss of members of our Santa Fe ISD family."
Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered Texas flags to be flown at half-staff in memory of those who died in Friday's shooting.
This is the third school shooting in eight days, and the 22nd in the United States since the beginning of the year. An attack in Parkland, Florida left 17 people dead in February, and ignited a larger push for gun control as surviving teens launched a national grassroots movement calling for reform.
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
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings had harsh words for federal lawmakers who have been commenting on the Sante Fe shooting, which he shared in a Friday morning tweet. "History will not look kindly upon those elected officials who failed to act in the face of repeated mass murders of our children," he said. "Spare us your thoughts and prayers and do your job."
KTRK-TV reported that a similar incident happened at this same campus back in February. Students then reported hearing popping sounds coming from outside of the school building. Police were called to the high school, but determined that the situation was a false alarm.
This is a developing story.