17-year-old student Dimitrios Pagourtzis fatally shot 10 people on Friday May 18, when he opened fire on his classmates and teachers at Sante Fe High School in Texas. At least 10 others were injured.
Victim Shana Fisher’s mother, Sadie Rodriguez, has told Associated Press that she believes her 16-year-old daughter was targeted by the killer.
“He kept making advances on her and she repeatedly told him no,” Rodriguez said, adding that her daughter had “finally stood up to him and embarrassed him” just a week before the shooting.
“A week later he opens fire on everyone he didn’t like,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
The shooter’s family has issued a statement saying they are “as shocked and confused as anyone else” by the tragedy, marie claire US reports.
“We are saddened and dismayed by yesterday’s events at Santa Fe High School,” their statement reads. “We extend our most heartfelt prayers and condolences to all of the victims.”
“We are gratified by the public comments made by other Santa Fe High School students that show Dimitri as we know him: a smart, quiet, sweet boy,” it continues. “What we have learned from media reports seems incompatible with the boy we love."
According to The Guardian, the shooter used a shotgun and revolver owned by his father.
