SANTA FE: A 17-year-old student confessed to opening fire at his Texas high school on Friday, killing 10 people, and told investigators that he had spared certain students "so he could have his story told," the authorities said. A Galveston County Sheriff's Office investigator wrote in an affidavit that Dimitrios Pagourtzis had waived his right to remain silent and had given "a statement admitting to shooting multiple people" at Santa Fe High School.
The investigator also wrote that Pagourtzis had said that "he did not shoot students he did like so he could have his story told."
Pagourtzis's apparently well-planned assault in this rural community of about 13,000 people was the deadliest school shooting since February, when 17 people were killed in Parkland, Florida. But investigators said that Pagourtzis had given no overt indications that he was planning a mass shooting. "Unlike Parkland, unlike Sutherland Springs, there were not those types of warning signs," governor Greg Abbott of Texas said, referring to the Florida school attack and a siege at a church last November. "We have what are often categorised as red-flag warnings, and here, the red-flag warnings were either nonexistent or very imperceptible."
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Pagourtzis was being held on Saturday without bond on charges of capital murder and aggravated assault of a public servant.
In the aftermath of Friday's attack, though, Abbott said that investigators had recovered information from Pagourtzis's computer and cellphone that suggested that he wanted to carry out the shooting and to kill himself afterward. "But, he didn't have the courage to commit suicide," the governor said. A Facebook post on April 30 showed a black Tshirt with the words "Born to Kill" printed in white. The Facebook page has since been taken down.
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Students said Pagourtzis was known for wearing a long black trench coat, unusual attire in a part of Texas that is often hot and humid. And they said he was wearing the trench coat once more on Friday morning, when the temperature was in the low 70s and he opened fire.
The school district said that all of its schools would be closed on Monday and Tuesday and that it would offer counselling. The district also urged parents to "not hesitate to ask for help if you notice a change in your child's typical demeanor." "Like you, I have many questions about this horrific event," Dr. Leigh Wall, the school superintendent, wrote in an open letter to the community.