{"id":44175,"date":"2018-05-19T16:16:40","date_gmt":"2018-05-19T16:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=44175"},"modified":"2018-05-19T16:16:40","modified_gmt":"2018-05-19T16:16:40","slug":"10-killed-in-texas-high-school-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=44175","title":{"rendered":"10 killed in Texas high school shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ten people have been killed and 10 others injured after a student opened fire at a Texas high school, the state governor said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The attacker, who was arrested and charged with murder, was identified as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old pupil at Santa Fe High School.<\/p>\n

He allegedly used a shotgun and a revolver taken from his father, who legally owned the weapons.<\/p>\n

Most of the dead are students, police said.<\/p>\n

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said “various kinds of explosive devices” had been found at the school, 40 miles (65km) south of Houston, and off-campus. They included “a CO2 device” and “a Molotov cocktail”, he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Abbott said police found information on the suspect's diary, computer, and mobile phone suggesting that he planned the attack and intended to kill himself afterwards.<\/p>\n

The governor said the teenager “gave himself up” because “he didn't have the courage to commit the suicide”.<\/p>\n

Santa Fe Police Chief Jeff Powell advised residents to be aware of any suspicious objects they find. “Do not touch any items that look out of place,” he said.<\/p>\n

Santa Fe school police officer John Barnes has been named among the injured. He was in a critical condition and undergoing surgery, local media reported.<\/p>\n

How the attack unfolded<\/strong><\/p>\n

Students said the shooter entered an art class and opened fire shortly before 08:00 (13:00 GMT).<\/p>\n

“There was someone that walked in with a shotgun and started shooting,” one witness told KTRK-TV, “and this girl got shot in the leg.”
\nOne student told local network KHOU-11 that a teacher who realised what was happening activated a fire alarm to evacuate the building.<\/p>\n

Dakota Shrader, a student, told CBS News that everyone began running outside when the alarms went off.<\/p>\n

“Next thing you know everybody looks, 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.”<\/p>\n

Another student, Damon Rabon, told CBS he looked out of his classroom after hearing loud bangs and saw the shooter. “Black trench coat, short kind of guy, had a sawed-off shotgun,” he said.<\/p>\n

There were 1,400 students in the school at the time of the attack, according to Lt Gov Dan Patrick.<\/p>\n

The reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Donald Trump, speaking at a prison reform event at the White House, described the attack as “absolutely horrific”.<\/p>\n

“My administration is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools, and to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves, and to others,” he said.<\/p>\n

He ordered flags to be flown at half-mast at the White House and all public and military buildings.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, the US president reiterated his call to arm teachers with guns during a speech in Dallas to the National Rifle Association.<\/p>\n

Governor Abbott called the shooting “one of the most heinous attacks that we've ever seen in the history of Texas schools”.<\/p>\n

“It's impossible to describe the magnitude of the evil of someone who would attack innocent children in a school,” he said.<\/p>\n

First Lady Melania Trump tweeted: “My heart goes out to Santa Fe and all of Texas today.”<\/p>\n

How does it compare to previous school shootings?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Texas attack is the deadliest school shooting since a student opened fire in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people.<\/p>\n

That assault spawned a nationwide youth-led campaign for gun control.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, a police officer was able to stop a former student who opened fire at an Illinois high school before anyone was injured.<\/p>\n

The worst school shooting in US history occurred at Virginia Tech university in Virginia, where 33 people were killed and 25 injured by Sueng-Hui Cho, who committed suicide after the attack.<\/p>\n

There have been more deaths in US school shootings so far in 2018 than there have been deaths in the US military, according to an analysis by the Washington Post.<\/p>\n

What do we know about the attacker?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Authorities said journals kept by Mr Pagourtzis, 17, showed that he planned to carry out the attack and intended to kill himself afterwards.<\/p>\n

But Mr Abbott told reporters that, unlike several previous mass shootings, authorities had not been alerted to Mr Pagourtzis before the attack on Friday.<\/p>\n

“Unlike Parkland, unlike Sutherland Springs, there were not those types of warning signs,” Mr Abbott said. “We have what are often categorized as red-flag warnings, and here, the red-flag warnings were either nonexistent or very imperceptible.”<\/p>\n

Mr Pagourtzis suggested in social media posts that he was an atheist and said: “I hate politics”. On April 30 he posted a photograph of a T-shirt bearing the slogan “Born to Kill”.<\/p>\n

He is being held at Galveston County Jail on a charge of capital murder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten people have been killed and 10 others injured after a student opened fire at a Texas high school, the state governor said. The attacker, who was arrested and charged with murder, was identified as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old pupil at Santa Fe High School. He allegedly used a shotgun and a revolver taken from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,5,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n