The twelfth school shooting (with injuries or death) of this year so far has occurred on Friday 18 May in Santa Fe, Texas. Ten people were killed and ten others have been wounded in the shooting. The attacker was identified as a 17-year-old Texas high school student, Dimitrios Pagourtzis. The BBC reported the attacker used his father's legally owned weapons to attack his classmates.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated that the police found the attacker's plans on his diary, phone and computer, which also showed that he was planning to kill himself after the shooting.

However, the governor said that the attacker gave himself up to the police because he "didn't have enough courage to commit suicide."

How did the attack happen?

Students said that the attacker barged into an art class with his gun and opened fire. One of the teachers realised what was happening and activated the fire alarm in an attempt to evacuate the building. Staff and students immediately ran outside after the alarms went off. One of the students, Damon Rabon, described Pagourtzis as wearing a "black trench coat, short kind of guy, had a sawed-off shotgun." The casualties of the attack were mostly students of Santa Fe High School. Santa Fe school police officer John Barnes was critically injured and is undergoing surgery.

The governor said that the attacker used a gun and a revolver with "various kinds of explosives" found at the school. Santa Fe Police Chief advised against touching "anything that looked out of place," since they had found explosives such as a Molotov cocktail and a CO2 device.

It was told that the attacker did not show any signs of a shooter before his attack.

He was an honour roll student at his school who had partaken in many extracurricular activities. However, his social media accounts included a picture of a t-shirt with "Born To Kill" written on it and a picture of a trench coat that had different insignias pinned on it, such as the Nazi's Iron Cross. The attacker tagged the trench coat picture as a representation of bravery.

The shooter was arrested and charged with murder after the attack and booked into the Galveston County Jail.

Reactions to the shooting

US President Donald Trump commented on this school shooting twice so far. His first tweet was sent after the initial reports of the shooting were published.

Many Twitter users commented on Donald Trump's first tweet, most of them upset by the events and demanding gun control. President Trump later tweeted another message, in which he sent his "support and love."
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