Authorities Still Looking For Motive
The mass shooting in Santa Fe High School in Texas resulted to the death of 10 people. The gunman, a 17-year-old student of the same school is in custody now. Speculation has surfaced about the real motives that triggered accused shooter Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, to kill innocent people without mercy.
One media report says the spurned advances of the gunman provoked him to launch the deadly rampage in his Santa Fe high school in the first class hour of the day on Friday.
The teenage boy had been spurned by one of his victims after making aggressive advances, her mother told the Los Angeles Times.
Sadie Rodriguez, the mother of Shana Fisher, 16, told the newspaper that her daughter rejected four months of aggressive advances from gunman Dimitrios Pagourtzis.
Fisher finally stood up to him and embarrassed him in class, the newspaper quoted her mother as writing in a private message to the Times.
“A week later he opens fire on everyone he didn’t like,” she said. “Shana being the first one.”
Motives Remain Mystery
In the wake of the shooting, various reports say that Pagourtzis was bullied by his classmates. However, two Santa Fe High students who said they knew Pagourtzis said they had no reason to suspect that he was planning Friday’s attack.
Student Michael Farina said he had known the alleged gunman since fifth grade and considered him a friend. He recalled Pagourtzis talked about buying a gun “when I grow up,” but never discussed his dad’s guns or anything about his family.
Amid different speculation, there was an absence of a clear motive and it remains a mystery. Authorities say Pagourtzis planned the killings, carried out with weapons owned by his father. Though Pagourtzis allegedly wrote about his intention to carry out the attack, authorities have not indicated an official motive for the violence.
Santa Fe Shooting: Deadly Friday
It was supposed to be a happy Friday for students in an art class in their first period of that day when the gunman stormed the classroom and ruthlessly opened fire on a group of students.
Armed with a shotgun and .38 revolver, the gunman opened fire and the school erupted in chaos. Students ran to safety. The trauma caused by the shooting left an indelible mark in the lives of the students and those families who are grieving for the loss of their loved ones.
Apparently Dimitrios Pagourtzis intended to kill himself after the rampage but did not find the courage to shoot himself. He surrendered and was taken into custody at the Galveston County jail.
During a court appearance that lasted about two minutes on Friday evening, a Texas judge denied bond for Mr. Pagourtzis. The teenage boy has been charged with capital murder and aggravated assault against a public servant.
Santa Fe is about 35 miles southeast of Houston.
The Santa Fe shooting comes three months after 17 people were killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. That shooting sparked mass protests and calls for tougher gun control restrictions in the U.S.
The Parkland shooter, a student, was also bullied at his school, and law enforcement had 30 opportunities to intervene, but did not.
