Gov. Abbott: School shooter used shotgun and handgun owned by father

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the Santa Fe High School shooting suspect used a shotgun and .38-revolver he obtained from his father.

Two law enforcement officials have identified a person in custody in the Houston-area school shooting as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis. Pagourtzis had played football on the school’s junior varsity squad and danced as part of a church group. Those who know him expressed shock Friday that he might be involved in the killings.

At a news conference on Friday, Abbott said both weapons were owned legally by the suspect’s father, but it’s not clear whether the father knew his son had taken them. Abbott says 10 people were killed and 10 more wounded in the shooting Friday morning at Santa Fe High School.

Abbott said “we look to God to give the first responders, as well as the victims and the families, the guidance they need in the coming days and weeks.” The governor says he will organize roundtables around the state to discuss preventing further shootings.

Abbott called Friday’s shooting “one of the most heinous attacks that we’ve ever seen in the history of Texas schools.” He says explosive devices, including a molotov cocktail, had been found in the suspected shooter’s home and a vehicle as well as around the school and nearby.

The governor says the suspect said he originally intended to commit suicide but gave himself up and told authorities that he didn’t have the courage to take his own life.

A 16-year-old boy who says he considers Dimitrios Pagourtzis a friend says the shooting suspect is interested in guns and war simulation video games, but he has never about talked about killing people.

Tristen Patterson is a junior at Sante Fe high School, where at least 10 people were killed in the shooting Friday morning.

Patterson says Pagourtzis didn’t show signs of being bullied, but that he rarely talked about himself. He says Pagourtzis would sometimes enter the classroom “acting a little bit down or sad. A little bit sluggish. … But he never talked about why.”