On May 18, 2018, a school shooting occurred at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, United States, in the Houston metropolitan area. Ten people – eight students and two teachers – were fatally shot, and thirteen others were wounded. Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a student at the school, was taken into custody. The shooting is the third-deadliest high school shooting in the United States, after the Parkland high school shooting that occurred three months prior, and the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.
Background
The Santa Fe Independent School District has an active shooter plan, and two armed police officers that interacted with students in the school. In the year prior to the shooting, the school district leadership made plans to arm teachers and staff through the Texas School Marshal Program.
Shooting
The gunman began firing a weapon into an art class at the school at 7:32 a.m. CDT. The incident occurred in the school's art complex, which consists of four interconnected rooms with interior hallways, and four other rooms. Witnesses said the two targeted classrooms are connected by a ceramics room that the shooter accessed by damaging a door window. During the shooting a staff member pulled a fire alarm, causing most of the school to evacuate.
One wounded victim told reporters the shooter walked into the classroom and pointed his firearm at another person, singing "Another One Bites the Dust" in between shots. According to a witness, students barricaded themselves in the art classroom storage closet but the shooter shot through the door with a shotgun. He left the art room briefly, causing students to leave the closet and attempt to barricade the art room door, but he pushed the door open. Upon spotting a student he knew, he said "Surprise!" and shot the student in the chest. Students are credited with giving victims first aid.
Santa Fe ISD Police officers stationed at the school exchanged fire with the shooter, with one officer being wounded and admitted in critical condition to a local hospital. After the gunman shot into the ceramics room, he was engaged by another school officer and a Texas Highway Patrol Trooper who attempted to have him surrender peacefully. He reportedly threatened to shoot the officers and repeatedly fired rounds while arguing with the police. He surrendered to the officers after being injured. The Galveston County Sheriff said officers confronted him within four minutes and allowed for the safe evacuation of other students and faculty.
Parents were kept off school grounds during the response to the shooting, with parents being directed to the Alamo gym by 8 AM. Students were then evacuated to the gym and reunited with their parents.
Victims
Ten people were killed and thirteen people were injured. The eight students and two teachers killed were:
Investigation
The shooter told police he meant to kill the classmates he shot and wanted to spare the students he liked, so he could "have his story told". The shooting lasted about 25 minutes until he was arrested.
According to the probable cause affidavit and complaint filed by law enforcement, the shooter used a short-barreled 12-gauge Remington Model 870 pump-action shotgun and a Rossi .38-caliber snub-nosed revolver. Both firearms appear to have been legally owned by his father. Various types of explosive devices were found at the school and off campus, as well as a Molotov cocktail, and residents in the surrounding area were warned to be aware of all suspicious objects.
Two other people were detained by police as persons of interest. One was detained at the scene due to "suspicious reactions" after the shooting, and another was described as being interviewed.
Accused
The suspected shooter was identified by police as Dimitrios Pagourtzis (born October 12, 2000), a 17-year-old student at the school. He is charged with capital murder of multiple people and aggravated assault against a public servant; and held in custody without bail. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 40 years to life.
According to at least one witness, Pagourtzis was bullied by multiple students and coaches. The school denied the allegations of bullying by coaches. One of his former teachers described him as "quiet, but he wasn't quiet in a creepy way", and said that he had never seen him draw or write anything in his class journal that she found suspicious or unusual. Pagourtzis was on the honor roll, and he played on the school football team.