Texas School Shooting: Governor Reveals Shooter Used .38 Revolver

Santa Fe High School shooting suspect Dimitrios Pagourtzis used a .38 revolver and a shotgun, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said during a press conference Friday.

Abbott said the 17-year-old, who was a student at the high school, used the two weapons to kill nine students and one teacher. The weapons are legally owned by his father.

“Neither of these weapons were owned or legally possessed by the shooter,” Abbott said, reports CNN. “I have no information if the father was aware the son had taken these weapons.”

Law enforcement sources also told CBS News authorities found pressure cookers and pipe bombs around the school grounds. Investigators are also searching a mobile home less than three miles from the school. Records show Pagourtzis lived there.

Investigators also got search warrants for two other residences and the suspect’s car, Abbott said.

Pagourtzis intended to take his own life after the shooting, investigators learned from his journals, Abbott said. However, when authorities found him, he “didn’t have the courage to commit the suicide,” according to the governor.

“We also know information already that the shooter has information contained in journals on his computer and his cell phone that he said that not only did he want to commit the shooting, but he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting,” Abbott told reporters.

Abbott continued, “As you probably know, he gave himself up and admitted at the time he didn’t have the courage to commit the suicide, that he wanted to take his own life earlier.”

The shooting started early Friday morning at the high school in Santa Fe, a city south of Houston in Galveston County. Abbott called the shooting “one of the most heinous attacks that we’ve ever seen in the history of Texas schools.”

Students at the school described the harrowing moments of the shooting. Michael Farina, 17, told CBS News he thought it was a fire drill, and helped special education students in wheelchairs leave the building. Then he saw the principal telling everyone to run, with another teacher saying, “It is real.”

Students were told to take cover at a car shop across the street, Farina said. Others continued to find shelter even farther away.

Another student, Damon Rabon, told CBS News he was in a classroom near the art hall where the shooting happened. He heard “this loud banging, kind of ringing noise,” and thought a desk fell at first. But after they heard the same noise three to four more times, they realized something else was going on.

Pagourtzis was described as quiet and “weird” by other students because he frequently wore a trenchcoat.

The motive for the shooting is still unknown, but his social media pages provide a chilling look into his life. He shared a photo of a shirt that reads “Born to Kill” and used his Instagram page to share a photo of a handgun and knife.