SANTA FE: Texas schools tighten security after deadly shooting, Some Texas schools beefed up security Monday as students returned to classrooms following the mass shooting Friday at a rural high school that left 10 dead and 13 wounded, mostly teenagers.
At least two of the wounded were still hospitalized, including school police officer John Barnes who remained in critical condition, said the University of Texas Medical Branch.
A statewide moment of silence was held at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) to remember the eight students and two teachers killed at Santa Fe High School, where mourners gathered Monday around white wooden crosses representing each victim. Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old student at the school, faces charges of capital murder and aggravated assault of a public servant.
He is alleged to have used his father’s legally owned shotgun and a revolver in Friday’s rampage. “He was playing music, making jokes, had slogans and rhymes he kept saying,” student Trenton Beazely told ABC’s “Good Morning America” program Monday. “Every time he’d kill someone he’d say, ‘another one bites the dust.’
” Schools in Santa Fe were closed through Tuesday and a crisis hotline was set up for traumatized students and parents.
Relevant Piece: TEXAS: Namaz-e-Janaza of slain student Sebika held in Texas – who was killed in school firing on Friday – has been held at Sugar Land’s Masjid Sabireen. Members of US Congress, US and Pakistani Consulate officials attended the funeral.
As many as ten people (two teachers and eight students – including one exchange program student from Karachi Sabika Shaikh) have died and ten wounded as result of Friday morning’s shooting at Texas’ Santa Fe High School.
According to Harris County Sheriff, the culprit is 17-year-old student of Santa Fe High School Dimitrios Pagourtzis. He had taken his father’s .38-caliber revolver to school and opened fire at students.
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Sources told that Dimitrios Pagourtzis walked into an art class at Santa Fe High School and began firing using his gun.
Footage of the crime scene showed several police officers outside the school. Some were searching students and their backpacks. The high school has about 1,400 students.
Santa Fe school informed: “This morning, an incident occurred at the high school involving an active shooter. The situation is active but has been contained.
“There have been confirmed injuries. Law enforcement will continue to secure the building and initiate all emergency management protocols to release and move students to another location. Other schools in the district were not affected.”
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It is pertinent to mention here that this is the third school shooting in eight days, and the 22nd since the beginning of the year in the United States.
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Exchange program student Sabika Sheikh from Karachi was one of the ten killed by the fellow student Dimitrios Pagourtzis. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo in his statement has said: “I send my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Sabika Sheikh, who was killed in the tragic shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, yesterday. Sabika was in the United States on the State Department-sponsored Youth Exchange and Study program, helping to build ties between the United States and her native Pakistan. Sabika’s death and that of the other victims is heartbreaking and will be mourned deeply both here in the United States, and in Pakistan.”
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