Ten people, mostly students, have been confirmed dead, and ten others wounded, following a shooting incident at at Santa Fe High School, south-east of Houston in the US state of Texas.
Per US media reports, the suspect walked into an art class in first period with a shotgun and a .38 caliber revolver before shouting “surprise” and opening fire.
The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that the alleged shooter, 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, was taken into custody following the incident.
Texas governor Greg Abbott called the incident “one of the most heinous attacks that we’ve ever seen in the history of Texas schools.”
“There simply were not the same type of warning signs that we’ve seen in so many other shootings,” Abbott continued.
Explosive devices were found in the suspect’s home and vehicle as well as at the school and its surrounds, and bomb squads were called in to dispose of them.
Authorities say that one of those injured in the attack was a retired Houston police officer, who is in critical condition after being shot in the arm while engaging the suspect.
Heartbreaking moment as Santa Fe High School student is asked if she thought a shooting ‘would not happen’ at her school:
“It’s been happening everywhere. I’ve always kind of felt like eventually it was going to happen here too.” https://t.co/kymFDSH6D5 pic.twitter.com/0akC5liZn4
— ABC News (@ABC) May 18, 2018
This incident in Texas is the 22nd school shooting that the US has experienced so far in 2018, and the second this week, after a former student opened fire at a school in Illinois.
In February of this year, 17 people were killed in a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
