The student who allegedly shot dead 10 people and injured 10 more at a Texas high school has been identified.
This handout booking photo obtained 18 May, 2018, from Galveston County Sheriff's Department shows 17-year-old shooting suspect Dimitrios Pagourtzis. Photo: AFP
The gunman who opened fire in a classroom at Santa Fe High School shortly before classes on Friday has been identified as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis. The Galveston County Sheriff's Office identified him and said he had been charged with murder. More charges could follow.
Students fled in panic after seeing classmates wounded and a fire alarm triggered a full evacuation. At least 10 people were shot dead and as many injured.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the gunman originally planned to commit suicide but instead turned himself into police.
"Not only did he want to commit the shooting, but he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting," Mr Abbott said.
Although Mr Abbott did not identify the alleged gunman nor the two other suspect, an anonymous law enforcement source said one of them was Dimitrios Pagourtzis.
Explosive devices had also been found at the school, located about 48 km southeast of Houston, Harris County sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a Tweet.
"Law enforcement is in the process of rendering them safe."
Mr Abbott said police were searching two homes and a vehicle linked to the suspect, where they had found multiple homemade explosive devices.
Emergency crews gather in the parking lot of Santa Fe High School where at least 8 people were killed on 18 May, 2018. Photo: AFP
Courtney Marshall, a 15-year-old freshman at the school, said the gunman came into her art class shooting.
"I wanted to take care of my friends, but I knew I had to get out of there," she said.
"I knew the guy behind me was dead."
The school has some 1,462 students, according to federal education data.
U.S. President Donald Trump called the latest school massacre "absolutely horrific."
"My administration is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools and to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves and to others," Trump said at the White House.
The gunman used a shotgun and a .38 revolver taken from his father in this latest shooting - one of several deadly massacres in US schools in the past six months. Seventeen teens and educators were shot dead at a Parkland, Florida, high school in February. The massacre stirred the nation's long-running debate over gun ownership.
An FBI agent is seen in the parking lot of Santa Fe High School where at least eight people were killed on 18 May, 2018. Photo: AFP
Days after the Parkland shooting, Trump said that elected officials should be ready to "fight" the powerful National Rifle Association lobby group. Early this month he declared support for that group, telling its annual meeting in Dallas "your Second Amendment rights are under siege."
The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right to bear arms.
No major federal gun controls have been imposed since Parkland, though the administration is pursuing a proposed regulatory ban on "bump stocks," which enable a semi-automatic rifle to fire a steady stream of bullets. It was used in an October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 59.
- Reuters