A teenage boy who shot and killed eight students and two teachers during a gun rampage at a Houston high school had been spurned by one of his victims after making aggressive advances, her mother told a newspaper.
Sadie Rodriguez, the mother of Shana Fisher, 16, told the Los Angeles Times that her daughter rejected four months of aggressive advances from Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, who is in jail charged with murdering 10 people early on Friday at the high school in Santa Fe.
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.”
Rodriguez could not independently be reached for comment.
If true, it would be the second school shooting in recent months driven by such rejection.
In March, a 17-year-old Maryland high school student used his father’s gun to fatally shoot a female student with whom he had been in a relationship that recently ended.
Police said Pagourtzis confessed to Friday’s killings after he was taken into custody, but authorities have offered no motive yet for the massacre, the fourth-deadliest mass shooting at a US public school in modern history.
The Santa Fe Independent School District (ISD) denied accounts from some classmates that Pagourtzis had been bullied, including by a football coach.
“Administration looked into these claims and confirmed that these reports are untrue,” it said on Saturday in a statement on Facebook.
Classmates at the school, which has some 1,460 students, described Pagourtzis as a quiet loner who played on the football team. He wore a black trench coat to school in the Texas heat on Friday and opened fire with a pistol and shotgun.
Arm teachers: Lieutenant Governor
A senior Texas official says "the best 20 percent of teachers" should be armed with guns to defend schools from shooters.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who has also said schools have too many entrances and exits, said arming more teachers would mean there were "four to five guns to one".
On Twitter, he clarified that only teachers with military backgrounds of special training should carry guns.
The aftermath
In Santa Fe on Sunday, many churches and businesses had signs outside with messages such as “Santa Fe strong” and “Santa Fe ISD we are here for you.”
About 100 people attended an emotional service at the Aldersgate United Methodist Church. Service dogs were in a nearby hall to help console grieving victims.
Jared Black, one of the students killed, attended a youth group at the church, and many of its members embraced his mother Pam when the family arrived.
“I was not prepared for dealing with the aftermath,” Rusty Norman, president of the Santa Fe ISD board of trustees and a member of the church, said in an address to the congregation.
“What was supposed to be a safe place was not.”
Suspect's emotional state
Pagourtzis has provided authorities little information about the shootings, his attorney Nicholas Poehl said, adding: “Honestly because of his emotional state, I don’t have a lot on that.”
Texas’ governor, Greg Abbott, a Republican, told reporters that Pagourtzis obtained the firearms from his father, who had likely acquired them legally.
Pagourtzis’ family said in a statement they were “saddened and dismayed” by the shooting and “as shocked as anyone else” by the events. They said they are cooperating with authorities.
