Shooting at Texas High School Leaves 10 Dead    

A male student was in custody on Friday morning after a shooting spree inside Santa Fe High School in southeast Texas. The attack left 10 people dead and several wounded, many of them students. 

The suspect was identified as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas said that the guns used in the attack appear to have been obtained from the suspect’s father, who legally owned them. In addition to the suspect, the authorities said another student was detained as a person of interest.

Governor Abbott called the shooting “one of the most heinous attacks that we’ve ever seen in the history of Texas schools. It’s impossible to describe the magnitude of the evil of someone who would attack innocent children in a school.”

Several hours after the shooting in Santa Fe, a rural town between Houston and Galveston, police cars blocked the road off the state highway where the town’s only high school is located.

Earlier in the morning, Billie Scheumack, 68, was in her backyard when she heard what sounded like a couple of firecrackers.

“I thought the kids were playing,” Scheumack said. “But then I heard ambulances and fire trucks. It didn’t sound right, so I went out front.”

There she saw kids from the high school running—scared and clutching their phones—down her street, about a block from the school. A neighbor told her that some children had been shot.

“In this little town, you wouldn’t think something like this could happen,” Scheumack said.

Donald Trump said his administration would do “everything in our power” to keep guns away from those who should not have them.

“This has been going on for too long in our country—too many years, too many decades now,” Trump said in the East Room of the White House on Friday.

“My administration is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools, and do everything we can to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves and to others,” he continued.

Trump’s comments came months after he vowed to take action on school safety and gun restrictions in the wake of the Parkland shooting. At the time, the president, a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) who has strong political support from gun owners, said he would consider stricter background checks and raising the minimum age for buying an assault weapon, proposals that the group opposes.

Trump also endorsed an NRA-backed proposal to arm teachers. But he did not push for action on those initiatives, and Congress has not followed through.

In the hours after the attack, students from Stoneman Douglas voiced their grief, support, and frustration.

“My heart is so heavy for the students of Santa Fe High School,” Jaclyn Corin, a Parkland student, said on Twitter. “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.”

For resources on how to talk to students about violence and tragedy, click here.