Authorities name all 10 victims killed in Texas high school shooting

Authorities have released the names of the two teachers and eight students who were killed in the mass shooting at a Texas high school.

DmitriosPagourtzis, 17, allegedlyopened fire atthe school 48kilometressoutheast of Houston on Friday, injuring at least 13 others. He faces murder charges.

The Galveston County medical examiner's office and sheriff's office issued a statement Saturday listing those killed as:

• Glenda Perkins.
• Cynthia Tisdale.
• Kimberly Vaughan.
• Shana Fisher.
• Angelique Ramirez.
• Christian Riley Garcia.
• Jared Black.
• Sabika Sheikh.
• Christopher Jake Stone.
• Aaron Kyle McLeod.

Perkins and Tisdale were teachers. The others were students at Santa Fe High School.

Family members say Tisdale loved to help people, and her home was the centre for family gatherings. The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study Abroad program said its members are devastated by the loss of Sheikh.

Fisher's mother, Sadie Rodriguez, said she thinks her 16-year-old daughter was intentionally targeted by Pagourtzi. He had repeatedly made advances toward Fisher in the four months leading up to the shooting, Rodriguez said, "and she repeatedly told him no."

The week before the shooting, Rodriguez says that her daughter "stood up to him" by embarrassing him in class.

Pagourtzisis currently being held without bond on capital murder charges. He is accused of entering anart class at his school around 8 a.m. and opening fire.

'Shocked and confused'

Pagourtzis' familyreleased a statement on Saturdaysaying, "We are as shocked and confused as anyone else by these events that occurred" while offering prayers and condolences to the victims.

The family remained "mostly in the dark about the specifics of yesterday's tragedy" but "what we have learned from media reports seems incompatible with the boy we love," the statement said.

"We share the public's hunger for answers as to why this happened, and will await the outcome of the investigation before speaking about these events."

Texas Gov. Greg Abott on Friday said the suspected shooter wasarmed with a shotgun and a .38 revolver, both of which appeared to belong to the suspect'sfather. Abbott said the suspect also brought with him homemade explosive devices that were found in the school and nearby.

The suspect exchanged "a lot of firepower" with authorities before he surrendered,said Mark Henry, the Galveston County judgewho is the county's chief administrator.The explosivedevices were not capable of detonating, Henry said.

Investigators found a group of carbon dioxide canisters taped together, and a pressure cooker with an alarm clock and nails inside. But the canisters had no detonation device, and the pressure cooker had no explosive material, Henry said.

Investigators offered no motive. In a probable cause affidavit, however, authorities said the suspect admitted to the shooting.

Suspect surrendered

The gunman also told investigators that when he opened fire Friday morning, "he did not shoot students he did like so he could have his story told," according to the affidavit.

The governor said the assailant intended to kill himself but gave up and told police that he did not have the courage to take his own life.

Only weeks ago, a dozen students from Santa Fe High School offered support for survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting by participating in a nationwide walkout seeking stricter gun control.

On Friday, it was Parkland students who declared their solidarity with teens in Santa Fe after thedeadliest such attack in the U.S. since the Florida massacre that killed 17 and energized the teen-led gun-control movement.

Sophomore Kyle Harris, who took part in the walkout last month, was in first period when a fire alarm went off. Then, he heard teachers urging him to flee.

"The scariest thing is hearing a teacher who knows your name personally call you by your name and tell you to run," Harris tweeted.

The deaths were all but certain to re-ignite the debate over U.S. gun regulations, coming just three months after the Florida attack.

"It's been happening everywhere. I've always kind of felt like that eventually it was going to happen here too," Santa Fe High School student Paige Curry told Houston television station KTRK. "I don't know. I wasn't surprised. I was just scared."

Officer shot in thearm

The wounded in Sante Fe included a school police officer who was the first to confront the suspect and was shot in the arm.

Zachary Muehe, a sophomore at the school of roughly 1,400 students, was in his art class when he heard three loud booms.

Muehe told the New York Times that a student he knew from football was armed with a shotgun and was wearing a shirt emblazoned with the slogan "Born to Kill."

"It was crazy watching him shoot and then pump. I remember seeing the shrapnel from the tables, whatever he hit. I remember seeing the shrapnel go past my face," he told the Times.

Michael Farina, 17, heard the fire alarm and thought it was a drill. He was holding a door open for special education students in wheelchairs when a principal came bounding down the hall, telling everyone to run. Another teacher yelled out, "It is real!"

Students were led to take cover behind a car shop across the street from the school. Some still did not feel safe and began jumping the fence behind the shop to run even farther away, Farina said.

Shooteryelled 'surprise'

The gunman yelled "Surprise" before he started shooting, according to Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Pagourtzisappeared to have no prior arrests or confrontations with law enforcement. A woman who answered the phone at a number associated with the Pagourtzis family declined to speak with the AP.

Pagourtzis made his initial court appearance Friday evening by video link from the Galveston County Jail. A judge denied bond and took his application for a court-appointed attorney.

McCaul, a former federal prosecutor, said he expects the Justice Department to pursue additional charges, possibly involving weapons of mass destruction.

Pagourtzis played on the junior varsity football team and was a member of a dance squad with a local Greek Orthodox church. Acquaintances described him as quiet and unassuming, an avid video game player who routinely wore a black trench coat and black boots to class.

While cable news channels carried hours of live coverage, survivors of the Feb. 14 Florida attack took to social media to express grief and outrage.

"My heart is so heavy for the students of Santa Fe High School. It's an all too familiar feeling no one should have to experience. I am so sorry this epidemic touched your town Parkland will stand with you now and forever," Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Jaclyn Corin said in a tweet.

Oh my God, this is not fake. This is actually happening.- Student senior LoganRoberds

She also directed her frustration at President Donald Trump, writing "Our children are being MURDERED and you're treating this like a game. This is the 22nd school shooting just this year. DO SOMETHING."

In Texas, senior Logan Roberds said he was near the school's art room when he heard the fire alarm and left the building with other students. Once outside, Roberds said, he heard two loud bangs. He initially thought somebody was loudly hitting a trash can. Then came three more bangs.

"That's when the teachers told us to run," he said.

At that point, Roberds said, he told himself, "Oh my God, this is not fake. This is actually happening."

Survivorrejects idea of more gun control

Roberds said he doesn't think additional gun-control measures are needed, citing the need for defence against intruders.

"What are you going to do if some guy comes in your house and points a gun at you? You can't do nothing with a knife," he said.

Friday's assault was the deadliest in Texas since a man with a semi-automatic rifle attacked a rural church late last year, killing more than two dozen people.

Teen wrote in journals

There were few prior clues about Pagourtzis's behaviour, unlike the shootings in Parkland and the church in Sutherland Springs, Abbott said, but the teen wrote in journals of wanting to carry out such an attack and then to end his own life.

"This young man planned on doing this for some time. He advertised his intentions, but somehow slipped through the cracks,"Texas Sen. John Cornyn said.

In the aftermath of the Florida assault, survivors pulled all-nighters, petitioned city councils and state lawmakers, and organized protests in a grass-roots movement. Within weeks, state lawmakers adopted changes, including new weapons restrictions.

In late March, the teens spearheaded one of the largest student protest marches since Vietnam in Washington and inspired hundreds of other marches from California to Japan.