SANTA FE, Texas (AP) At least one gunman opened fire at a Houston-area high school Friday, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. It was the nations deadliest such attack since the massacre in Florida that gave rise to a campaign by teens for gun control.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said he could not be precise about the number of deaths at Santa Fe High School, which went on lockdown around 8 a.m. One person was in custody and a second person detained.
An unknown number of possible explosive devices were found at the school and off campus. Authorities were in the process of rendering them safe and asked the public to call 911 if they see anything suspicious.
The district confirmed an unspecified number of injuries but did not release details. A school police officer was shot, officials said, but there was no immediate word on his condition.
One hospital reported treating eight wounded patients. Six were treated and released. One was listed in critical condition, and another in fair condition.
Michael Farina, 17, said he was on the other side of campus when the shooting began and thought it was a fire drill. He was holding a door open for special education students in wheelchairs when a principal came bounding down the hall and 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.
I debated doing that myself, he said.
A law enforcement official identified a person in custody in the shooting as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis.
The official was not authorized to discuss the shooting by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.
A woman who answered the phone at a number associated with the Pagourtzis family declined to speak with the AP.
Give us our time right now, thank you, she said.
Pagourtzis plays on the Santa Fe High School junior varsity football team, and is a member of a dance squad with a local Greek Orthodox church.
The shooting was all but certain to re-ignite the national debate over gun regulations. While cable news channels carried hours of live coverage, survivors of the Feb. 14 attack in Parkland, Florida, took to social media to express grief and outrage.
My heart is so heavy for the students of Santa Fe High School. Its 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.
