Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the suspected shooter from Friday’s school shooting at Sante Fe High School in Texas, made his first court appearance on Friday afternoon after being charged with capital murder by the Galveston County Sheriff’s Department.
After being read his rights, Pagourtzis confirmed that he was a citizen of the United States then requested a court-appointed attorney for his case. Pagourtzis was in handcuffs throughout the exchange and was guided back to his cell via a group of officers.
Videos by PopCulture.com
You can watch the full video of the court appearance here.
Later in the evening, he admitted he committed the shooting to the police via a probable cause affidavit, stating he only intended to shoot the people who died.
Pagourtzis opened fire during first period of the school day on Friday morning. By 7:40 a.m. the first reports of shots being fired had reached the police, and he was arrested by 9 a.m. He arrived at the school in a trench coat and t-shirt with the words “Born to Kill” written on the front.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed in a press conference that a .38 pistol and a shotgun were used in the shooting. Both of the weapons were legally owned by Pagourtzis’ father.
“Neither of these weapons were owned or legally possessed by the shooter,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, reports CNN. “I have no information if the father was aware the son had taken these weapons.”
Police also found pressure cookers and pipe bombs around the school grounds, none of which detonated.
Abbott also said police had studied Pagourtzis’ personal journal and cell phone and made the discovery that he planned to kill himself after the shooting.
“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.
The governor 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.”
Multiple students have told news outlets about what happened inside the school during the shooting, and how many of them fled the building once the first shots were fired and the fire alarm was pulled.
Damon Rabon told CBS News he heard a “loud banging, kind of a ringing noise” when the shooting began.
“It was just so scary, you could hear him walking, you’d hear him walking right past our classroom,” Rabon said. “You could hear the shots, ‘boom, boom, boom.’ Thank God he didn’t come into our classroom.”
“As soon as we heard the alarms, everybody just started leaving following the same procedure as [a] practice fire drill,” another student, Dakota Shrader, tearfully told the news outlet. “And next thing you know, we just hear three gunshots, loud explosions, and all the teachers are telling us to run. You could just hear ‘boom, boom, boom’ so I just ran as fast as I could to the nearest forest to hide and call my mom.”
