SANTA FE, Texas | The Latest: Student: "Normal day" before gunman opened fire
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SANTA FE, Texas | The Latest: Student: "Normal day" before gunman opened fire
SANTA FE, Texas — The Latest on a shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas (all times local):
A student at a Houston-area high school where 10 people were killed says it was a “perfectly normal day” before shots rang out in her art classroom.
Breanna Quintanilla, a 17-year-old junior at Santa Fe High School, says that when Dimitrios Pagourtzis walked into the room, he pointed at one person and said, “I’m going to kill you.” She did not identify the student who was shot.
Quintanilla also says the suspect fired in her direction as she tried to run out of the room. She says the bullet ricocheted and hit her right leg. She was still wearing a hospital bracelet on her wrist as she spoke after a Friday night vigil.
Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder in the school shooting. He was denied bond at a hearing earlier Friday.
A leader at a program for foreign exchange students and the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C., say a Pakistani girl is among those killed in the Texas high school shooting.
Megan Lysaght, manager of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study Abroad program, sent a letter to other students in the program confirming that Sabika Sheikh was killed in the shooting at Santa Fe High School.
The letter says the program is devastated by Sabika’s loss and would be holding a moment of silence for her.
Lysaght declined further comment when contacted by The Associated Press and referred calls to a State Department spokesman.
The Pakistan Embassy in Washington identified Sabika as a victim of the shooting on Twitter and wrote that “our thoughts and prayers are with Sabika’s family and friends.”
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says he expects the Justice Department to pursue additional charges against the suspected gunman at a Texas high school.
Texas Rep. Michael McCaul told The Associated Press on Friday that federal prosecutors are looking into possible weapons of mass destruction charges against 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis.
The Santa Fe High School student was in custody on murder charges and made his initial court appearance Friday evening by video link from the Galveston County Jail. He’s accused of killing 10 people, most of them fellow students. Authorities say he also had explosive devices that were found in the school and nearby.
McCaul is a former federal prosecutor. He thinks the Justice Department “wants to ramp this up as much as they can to send a message of deterrence.”
Family members say a substitute teacher whose passion was her children and grandchildren is among the victims of the shooting at a Texas high school.
Leia Olinde says authorities confirmed to her family that her aunt, Cynthia Tisdale, was killed in Friday morning’s shooting at Santa Fe High School.
She says Tisdale, who was in her 60s, was like a mother to her and helped her shop for wedding dresses last year.
Olinde says Tisdale was married to her husband for close to 40 years and had three children and eight grandchildren. She says she “never met a woman who loved her family so much.”
Olinde’s fiance, Eric Sanders, says “words don’t explain her lust for life and the joy she got from helping people.”
Officials have canceled classes at schools in the Santa Fe Independent School District through at least Tuesday in the wake of a shooting at Santa Fe High School that left 10 dead, most of them students.
In a statement posted on the district website, officials indicated that no plan has been made for resuming classes.
Seventeen-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis is charged with capital murder in the shooting rampage. A judge denied him bond at a court hearing Friday evening.
A judge has denied bond for the 17-year-old accused of killing 10 people and wounding 10 others at a Texas high school.
Dimitrios Pagourtzis made his initial court appearance Friday evening via closed circuit video from the Galveston County Jail. The judge also took Pagourtzis’ application for a court-appointed attorney.
Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder in the Friday morning shooting at Santa Fe High School. He did not enter a plea at the hearing.
Students at a Houston-area high school where a shooting left 10 people dead and 10 wounded are divided on the issue on gun control.
Seventeen-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis has been identified as the suspect in Friday’s shooting at Santa Fe High School.
Branden Auzston, also 17, is a junior at the school. He says he doesn’t like the idea of arming teachers or allowing open carry on school campuses.
Auzston says “that might help, but at the same time it would just leave room for more deaths.” He thinks security at his school could be improved if more police officers are stationed there “but in a smart manner.”
However, 17-year-old senior Daisy Sullivan, Auzston’s girlfriend, says she doesn’t think more gun control measures are needed.
She says “it’s not, like, the gun’s fault” whenever a school shooting happens. Sullivan adds, “No, it’s the kid who had the idea. Something is wrong with his head. He had the weird idea to shoot up a school.”
President Donald Trump has “activated” his gun safety commission and is expected to meet with members next week in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Texas.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the commission the president convened after the Parkland, Florida, shooting in February “has been activated today to start that conversation up again.” She says she believes it will be meeting again in “first part of next week.”
She declined to say whether Trump will revisit some gun control measures after another school shooting, but adds, “Certainly conversation’s ongoing about the best ways to protect kids across the country.”
Authorities say Friday’s shooting at Santa Fe High School left 10 dead and 10 wounded.
Netflix has canceled the premiere of its second season of the teen drama “13 Reasons Why” because of a school shooting near Houston.
The streaming service announced the cancellation hours before the scheduled premiere and red carpet event, citing the Friday morning shooting at Santa Fe High School that left 10 people dead.
Despite the cancelled premiere, the entire Season 2 is available on Netflix.
The first season of “13 Reasons Why” drew criticism for its graphic depiction of a teenager’s suicide. The second season focuses on the aftermath of the girl’s death, and includes a storyline about a thwarted school shooting.
The show’s launch party was expected to feature appearances by show stars Katherine Langford, Dylan Minnette, Kate Walsh and others, and producer Selena Gomez.
U.S. Senator John Cornyn says the 17-year-old student accused in a fatal shooting at a Texas high school used a semi-automatic pistol and a sawed-off shotgun to kill 10 people.
The Republican from Texas says investigators are still determining whether the shotgun’s shortened barrel is legal.
Dimitrios Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder in the Friday shooting that also wounded 10 people at Santa Fe High School near Houston.
Cornyn says the suspect had a variety of homemade explosives in his car and at the school, including pipe bombs and “pressure-cooker-like bombs” similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack.
Cornyn says the suspect “planned on doing this for some time, he advertised his intentions but somehow slipped through the cracks.”
Vice President Mike Pence says President Donald Trump “has been taking action to make our schools and our communities safe,” hours after a mass shooting at a high school in Texas.
Pence on Friday called it a “heartbreaking day” after at least 10 people were killed at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas.
Speaking at political event in his home state of Indiana, Pence is highlighting the administration’s efforts on school safety, including signing legislation authorizing $2 billion for state and local governments to use to protect schools and a bill to strengthen the nation’s firearm background check system.
Pence says the administration is still calling on states “to follow the example of Indiana and allow qualified school personnel to carry concealed weapons.” A school police officer was among the 10 people who were shot and injured Friday in Santa Fe.
Texas’ governor says the 17-year-old student believed to be behind a high school shooting that killed 10 people wrote in his journal of wanting to carry out such an attack.
Republican Greg Abbott said Friday that the suspect “has information contained in journals on his computer, in his cellphone that … said … not only did he want to commit the shooting but he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting.”
Abbott added that the suspect gave himself up to authorities, saying he “didn’t have the courage” to take his own life.
Dimitrios Pagourtzis (Puh-GORE-cheese) has been charged with capital murder in the Friday morning shooting that killed 10 people and wounded 10 others in Santa Fe, near Houston and Galveston.
A hospital spokesman says a school resource officer who was shot in the arm when he engaged a gunman during a shooting at a Houston-area school is undergoing surgery.
David Marshall, the University of Texas Medical Branch’s chief nursing officer, says Santa Fe school resource officer John Barnes is in stable condition Friday afternoon.
Marshall says a bullet hit Barnes’ arm, damaging the bone and a major blood vessel around his elbow. He says the blood vessel has been repaired, and that Barnes is expected to emerge from surgery within a few hours.
Marshall says Barnes was the first person to engage a student armed with two guns who opened fire at Santa Fe High School Friday morning. The shooter killed at least 10 people and injured 10 more.
President Donald Trump has ordered that U.S. flags fly at half-staff as a mark of “solemn respect” for those affected by the school shooting in Texas.
Flags are to be flown at half-staff until sunset on May 22. The order applies to the White House and all public buildings and grounds, military posts and naval stations and vessels, as well as at U.S. embassies, consular offices and other facilities abroad. The flag atop the White House was immediately lowered on Friday.
Texas authorities say 10 people, mostly students, were killed Friday when a 17-year-old student carrying a shotgun and a revolver opened fire at a Houston-area high school.
Ten other people were wounded at the school in Santa Fe.
A sophomore baseball player was one of at least 10 people injured in a shooting at a Houston-area high school.
Rome Shubert tells the Houston Chronicle that he was hit in the back of his head with what he says was a bullet, but that it “missed everything vital.”
Shubert posted on Twitter that he was “completely okay (sic) and stable.”
Authorities say 17-year-old student Dimitrios Pagourtzis fatally shot 10 people and wounded 10 others at Santa Fe High School on Friday. He is being held on a capital murder charge.
Shubert says the gunman walked into the classroom and tossed something. He said there were “three loud pops” before the attacker fled into the hall.
Shubert says he realized he’d been struck and injured as he was running out the back door.
Gov. Greg Abbott says there were few prior warnings about the suspected gunman who opened fire inside a Texas high school, unlike in other recent mass shootings.
Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset says 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder in the Friday morning shooting that killed 10 people and wounded 10 others in the community of Santa Fe.
Abbott said that “unlike Parkland, unlike Sutherland Springs, there were not those types of warning signs.” He was referring to the Feb. 14 school shooting in Florida and one in November inside a church in a town near San Antonio.
Abbott says “the red-flag warnings were either non-existent, or very imperceptible” in the case of the suspected Santa Fe shooter.
A sheriff says the 17-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of at least 10 people at his Houston-area high school is being held on a capital murder charge.
Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset says in a statement that the student, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, is being held without bond in the Galveston County jail.
At least 10 other people were wounded in the shooting Friday morning at the Santa Fe High School.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says investigators also found explosive devices, including a Molotov cocktail, in the school and nearby.
Abbott says the suspect told authorities after his arrest that he had intended to kill himself too, but that he lacked the courage.
At least one student isn’t at all surprised that a deadly shooting happened at her high school in Texas.
Paige Curry, who is 17, says “it’s been happening everywhere” and that she “always … felt like that eventually it was going to happen here too.”
Gov. Greg Abbott says 10 people were killed and 10 more were injured Friday morning when a gunman opened fire at Santa Fe High School.
Curry says she was sitting in a classroom when she “heard the loud booms.” It took a second for her to realize what was going on. She and her classmates ran onto the stage and hid together backstage, trying to keep each other calm until SWAT officers found them.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the school shooting suspect used a shotgun and .38-revolver he obtained from his father.
At a news conference on Friday, Abbott said both weapons were owned legally by the suspect’s father. But it’s not clear whether the father knew his son had taken them.
Abbott says 10 people were killed and 10 more wounded in the shooting Friday morning at Santa Fe High School.
Abbott said “we look to God to give the first responders, as well as the victims and the families, the guidance they need in the coming days and weeks.”
Abbott says he will organize roundtables around the state to discuss preventing further shootings.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says 10 people are dead and 10 more wounded after a shooting at a high school in the town of Santa Fe.
Abbott called Friday’s shooting “one of the most heinous attacks that we’ve ever seen in the history of Texas schools.”
He says explosive devices including a molotov cocktail that had been found in the suspected shooter’s home and a vehicle as well as around the school and nearby.
The governor says the suspect said he originally intended to commit suicide but gave himself up and told authorities that he didn’t have the courage to take his own life.
Abbott said there are “one or two” other people of interest being interviewed about the shooting.
A 16-year-old boy who says he considers Dimitrios Pagourtzis a friend says the Texas high school shooting suspect is interested in guns and war simulation video games, but that he has never about talked about killing people.
Tristen Patterson is a junior at Sante Fe high School, where at least eight people were killed in the shooting Friday morning.
Patterson says Pagourtzis didn’t show signs of being bullied, but that he rarely talked about himself.
He says Pagourtzis would sometimes enter the classroom “acting a little bit down or sad. A little bit sluggish. … But he never talked about why.”
A sophomore says it was “chaos” when the fire alarm sounded at Santa Fe High School and people realized it was an active shooter situation.
Sixteen-year-old John Robinson says he was in first period English class when the fire alarm went off.
Robinson says: “Everybody was just trying to get away from the school. They kept saying there was a shooter, people were shot.”
He says he felt scared and simply wanted to get as far away from the school as possible. He and other students ran to a nearby Shell station.
Robinson says he thinks two of his friends might have been injured in the shooting but that he hasn’t been able to speak with them.
A law enforcement official has identified a person in custody in the Houston-area school shooting as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis.
The official was not authorized to discuss the shooting by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.
Authorities say eight to 10 people, mostly students, were killed in the nation’s deadliest such attack since the massacre in Florida that gave rise to a campaign by teens for gun control.
A woman who answered the phone at a number associated with the Pagourtzis family declined to speak with the AP.
She said: “Give us our time right now, thank you.”
Pagourtzis plays on the Santa Fe High School junior varsity football team, and is a member of a dance squad with a local Greek Orthodox church.
Eric Tucker in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.
The emergency room medical director at a Texas hospital says the facility has treated eight patients injured in a shooting at a Houston-area school.
Dr. Safi Madain at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center says six of the eight patients have been treated and released. Madain says one patient remains in critical condition and the other is in fair condition.
Madain says all appeared to be high school students with gunshot wounds.
Other victims have been treated at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Dr. David Marshall, chief nursing officer, says one adult male is in critical condition at the hospital. He says that man was shot in the upper arm and is undergoing surgery.
Officials have said eight to 10 people were killed in the Friday morning shooting at Santa Fe High School.
A student inside the Houston-area high school where several people were fatally shot says he was near the art classroom where the shooting took place.
Eighteen-year-old Logan Roberds says he heard a fire alarm at Santa Fe High School and went outside. He says he then heard two loud bangs, which he didn’t initially think were gunshots. He says he thought someone loudly hit a trash can.
But he later heard three loud bangs. He says, “that’s when the teachers told us to run.” He says he ran with other students to a nearby gas station. His mother says she quickly drove to meet her son.
The local sheriff says eight to 10 people were killed after a gunman opened fire inside the school Friday morning. Two people are in custody.
The police chief at a Houston-area school district says a police officer was shot and wounded during a shooting that killed multiple people at a local high school.
Walter Braun is the police chief of Santa Fe Independent School District. He says the fatal shooting Friday morning at Santa Fe High School also left at least six people wounded, including a police officer.
Dr. David Marshall is the chief nursing officer at the University of Texas Medical Branch in nearby Galveston. He says one man is in critical condition and undergoing surgery at the hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the upper arm. It wasn’t immediately clear if the man is the wounded officer.
Two other victims are being treated for gunshot wounds to their legs. Hospital spokesman Raul Reyes says one of those is believed to be a student. The other is a middle-aged woman.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says eight to 10 people were killed after a gunman opened fire inside the school. Two people are in custody.
Survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, took to social media to express outrage and heartbreak after the latest school shooting in Texas where authorities say a gunman opened fire killing eight to 10 people.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas students Jaclyn Corin said in a tweet Friday that her “heart is so heavy” for the students at Santa Fe High School, telling them Parkland will stand with them.
She also directed her frustration at President Donald Trump, urging him to “DO SOMETHING” because children are being killed.
Classmate David Hogg warned the city that politicians would soon descend on the school acting like they care but are only looking to boost approval ratings.
Corin and Hogg were part of a grassroots movement that rallied hundreds of thousands for gun reform.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is headed to the scene of a school shooting outside Houston where officials say as many as 10 people were killed.
Abbott tweeted Friday that he was on his way to Santa Fe High School, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston. The Republican said an afternoon press conference was planned.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says most of the victims were students. He says authorities have also detained two people believed to be students.
Gonzalez says authorities didn’t yet have information on the weapon or weapons used.
The White House says President Donald Trump spoke with Abbott to offer his condolences and pledged to work with the governor to provide all appropriate federal assistance
Authorities say possible explosive devices have been found at and adjacent to the Texas high school where a shooting left as many as 10 people dead.
The Santa Fe Independent School District said in a statement Friday that authorities are in the process of rendering the devices safe.
There’s no indication how many devices have been found. Police asked the public to “remain vigilant” and to call 911 if they see any suspicious items in the area.
The school outside Houston went on lockdown around 8 a.m. after an active shooting was reported.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says there “could be 8 to 10 fatalities” from the shooting. Gonzalez says the majority of the dead are students.
The sheriff says one person is in custody and a second person has been detained.
Santa Fe is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.
President Donald Trump is sending condolences for the “absolutely horrific attack” at a Texas high school.
Trump is telling those affected that “we’re with you in this tragic hour and we will be with you forever.”
He says his administration is working to protect students, secure schools and keep weapons out of the hands of those who want to do harm.
He called this a “very very sad day.” Trump says “everyone must work together” to keep children safe.
The local sheriff says the shooting Friday morning at Santa Fe High school left as many as 10 people dead, most of them students. The school is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.
The local sheriff says as many as 10 people may have been killed during a shooting at a high school near Houston, most of them students.
Harris County Sherriff Ed Gonzalez Harris County said there “could be 8 to 10 fatalities” from the shooting Friday morning at Santa Fe High School, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.
Gonzalez says the majority of the dead are students.
The sheriff says one person is in custody and a second person has been detained.
Gonzalez says a police officer is among the injured but the extent of the officer’s injuries is unknown.
Vice President Mike Pence says he and President Donald Trump have been briefed on the school shooting at Santa Fe High School near Houston.
Pence said the students, families, teachers and all those affected should know: “‘We’re with you. You’re in our prayers and I know you are in the prayers of the American people.”
Trump adds in a tweet that, “Early reports not looking good. God bless all!”
First lady Melania Trump is also weighing on Twitter. She says, “My heart goes out to Santa Fe and all of Texas today.”
Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following the Friday morning shooting. The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports.
Officials say at least three people are being treated for gunshot wounds and two people have been detained following a shooting at a high school near Houston.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted Friday that one person is in custody and a second person has been detained following the Friday morning shooting at Santa Fe High School.
Gonzalez says a police officer was injured but the extent of the officer’s injuries is unknown.
Gonzalez says there are “multiple casualties” but didn’t elaborate. Houston-area media have cited unnamed law enforcement officials saying there were fatalities. The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports.
Dr. David Marshall is chief nursing officer at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He says one man was undergoing surgery at the hospital Friday morning following the shooting. He says a juvenile has been admitted and a second adult is being treated in the emergency room.
Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following a shooting at a high school.
Television station KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are citing unnamed federal, county and police officials following the shooting early Friday at Santa Fe High School, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.
The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports.
The school district has confirmed an unspecified number of injuries but is not immediately releasing further details. Assistant Principal Cris Richardson says a suspect “has been arrested and secured.”
School officials say people have been injured in a shooting at a Houston-area high school and the suspected shooter is in custody.
Assistant Principal Cris Richardson says the suspect in the shooting Friday at Santa Fe High School “has been arrested and secured.”
The school district also confirmed an unspecified number of people are injured but provided no other details.
School officials say law enforcement officers are working to secure the building “and initiate all emergency management protocols to release and move students to another location.”
Students are being transported to another location to reunite with their parents.
One student told Houston television station KTRK that a gunman came into her first-period class and started shooting. The student says she saw one girl with a bloody leg as the class evacuated.
Law enforcement officers are responding to a high school near Houston after an active shooter was reported on campus.
The Santa Fe school district issued an alert Friday morning saying Santa Fe High School has been placed on lockdown.
Galveston County sheriff’s Maj. Douglas Hudson says units are responding to reports of shots fired. He had no immediate details on whether anyone has been hurt.
Santa Fe is a city of about 13,000 residents, located 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.
One student told Houston television station KTRK in a telephone interview that a gunman came into her first-period art class and started shooting. The student says she saw one girl with blood on her leg as the class evacuated the room.
Authorities have not yet confirmed that report.
By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (A.S)
