Hell Yes There Were Signs. He Wore A Trench Coat Every Day Damit?
Texas shooting: Suspect Dimitrios Pagourtzis charged as 10 are killed and explosive devices found at high school – as it happened
Ten people were killed after a gunman believed to be a student opened fire at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, in the latest spasm of gun violence in a country still shaken by the massacre at a Florida high school in February.
Authorities quickly named 17-year-old student Dimitrios Pagourtzis as their suspect. Later in the day he was charged with capital murder – for which he did not enter a plea – and was denied bond. He was being held in solitary confinement.
Scenes of grief and horror streamed out of the small community less than an hour’s drive from Houston. Stunned and weeping teenagers tried to piece together the mayhem they had experienced. Schools were set to be closed for the start of the following week, with the FBI saying Santa Fe High School and the surrounding area would remain a closed crime scene “for some time”.
Hello and welcome to our coverage of the situation at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas.
A number of fatalities have been reported by multiple outlets, but not yet confirmed by officials. The local sheriff has said it is a ‘multiple casualty’ incident.
Local media is saying there are up to 8 fatalities – though these are not official reports and have not been confirmed
Unlike the better known Santa Fe in New Mexico, the Texas city where the shooting has taken place has a population of just 12,222, according to census data
Reports say the shooter is in the custody of local police
Shannon Watts
✔@shannonrwatts
Don’t bother tweeting me that it’s too soon to talk about the need for stronger gun laws. It’s always too soon in America. For kids shot at Santa Fe High School today, it’s too late.
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
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, just weighed in on today’s shooting in Texas.
“This has been my fear since February 14th, that another mass casualty shooting would happen before we did anything,” he tweeted. “Now, we have 8 more children dead and our leadership in Washington has done nothing. We do not need thoughts and prayers, we need action and we need it now.”
An eye witness describes what she saw
Michael Gravesande
✔@OldBlackHack
UPDATE Eyewitness account: “I shouldn’t be going through this” – One of the students at Santa Fe High School describes the scene of the shooting at her school this morning
Local media reporting suspected shooter may have used shotgun.
Donald Trump speaking live about the “absolutely horrific” incident. “We are with you and we will be with you forever…Everyone must work together at every level of government to keep our children safe.”
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez saying there could be 8-10 dead
At a brief press conference, he said two people are being questioned – one suspect, one person of interest. Both are believed to be students at the school, Mr Gonzalez said. The suspect has been arrested, but it is not clear whether the person of interest is speaking to police on their own accord or not.
Reports suggest the high school, located about 30 miles south of Houston, was due to have graduation ceremony tomorrow
From the Houston Chronicle, The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston has received three patients, the hospital reported on social media. Two are adults and one is under 18.
Clear Lake Regional Medical Center in Webster received seven injured students, a spokeswoman for that facility said. Previous reports that an injured officer was taken there are wrong, she said. Two other injured students were taken to Mainland Medical Center in Texas City, she said.
Authorities said the assailant appeared to have obtained his weapons – a shotgun and a revolver – from his father, who possessed them legally. Explosive devices were found both at the school and off campus, Mr Gonzalez said.
Court documents said the suspect admitted to authorities having carried out the shooting “with the intent of killing people” and said he spared the lives of students he liked so that “he could have his story told“.
Writings in the suspect’s journals that indicated he wanted to take his own life, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.
“We also know information already that the shooter has information contained in journals on his computer and his cell phone that he said that not only did he want to commit the shooting, but he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting,” he said.
“As you probably know, he gave himself up and admitted at the time he didn’t have the courage to commit the suicide, that he wanted to take his own life earlier,” Abbott added.
Some fellow students described him as quiet. He also played on the school’s American football team.
Donald Trump issues statement after Santa Fe High School shooting
President Donald Trump called the shooting heartbreaking and said that federal and local authorities were coordinating in the wake of the gun attack.
“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,” Mr Trump said at the White House.
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‘Multiple fatalities’ reported after shooting at Texas high school
As the day unfolded, Democratic elected officials said the latest shooting again proved the need for tougher gun laws. They were joined by teenage survivors of the Florida shooting who have turned into vocal fun control advocates.
While Mr Abbott said he intended to convene a series of public meetings to find “solutions” that would prevent more shootings, he did not elaborate on details.
USA Today Demonizes AR-15 After Reporting Santa Fe Gunman Used Revolver, Shotgun
AP
USA Today demonized the AR-15 on Friday after reporting that the Santa Fe High School gunman used a revolver and a shotgun in his attack.
The paper referenced Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) statement that the Santa Fe High School attacker used “a shotgun and .38 caliber revolver, both of which he got from his father.”
The article added, “The guns may have slowed down the gunman’s deadly rampage because they have a slower firing rate than firearms used in other recent mass shootings, such as the AR-15.”
USA Today continued, “High-powered rifles such as the AR-15 can be fired more than twice as fast as most handguns. The standard magazine for an AR-15 holds 30 rounds, allowing a shooter to continue firing uninterrupted for longer, making the weapon more lethal than other firearms.”
A few clarifications are in order: 1. A semi-automatic handgun can be fired as fast as a semi-automatic rifle. There is no magic quality about an AR-15 that makes it easier or quicker to fire than a semi-automatic pistol. 2. The Santa Fe gunman used a revolver, which is not semi-automatic, to begin with. However, granting that it was a double-action, it, too, can be fired as quickly as an AR-15. 3. A shotgun, which the Santa Fe gunman also used, is far superior to an AR-15 in close quarters. USA Today belatedly alluded to this by adding, “Clearly the use of any gun can be deadly, especially a shotgun at close range.”
Later in the article, USA Today reported, “Many of the deadliest mass shootings in recent years involved high-powered rifles, notably AR-15 styled rifles. But far fewer have featured shotguns or a revolver as the primary killing weapon.”
On April 3, 2018, Breitbart News listed 25 of our nation’s most prominent mass public attacks, and AR-15s were used eight times. The predominate weapon was a handgun, used 17 times. Shotguns were used in four of the incidents. The Santa Fe attack raises the use of handguns to 18 and shotguns to five, while AR-15s remain as the weapon of choice on eight occasions.
Donald J. Trump
Shannon Watts
HCSOTexas
Michael Gravesande
Ed Gonzalez@SheriffEd_HCSO
