By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press
SANTA FE, Texas (AP) — A 17-year-old carrying a shotgun and a revolver opened fire at a Houston-area high school Friday, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. It was the nation's deadliest such attack since the massacre in Florida that gave rise to a campaign by teens for gun control.
The suspected shooter, who was in custody on murder charges, also had explosive devices, including a Molotov cocktail, that were found in the school and nearby, said Gov. Greg Abbott, who called the assault "one of the most heinous attacks that we've ever seen in the history of Texas schools."
Authorities offered no immediate motive for the shooting. The governor said the assailant intended to kill himself but gave up and told police that he did not have the courage to take his own life.
The deaths were all but certain to re-ignite the national debate over gun regulations, coming just three months after the Parkland, Florida, attack that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
"It's been happening everywhere. I've always kind of felt like that eventually it was going to happen here too," Santa Fe student Paige Curry told Houston television station KTRK. "I don't know. I wasn't surprised. I was just scared."
Another 10 people were wounded at the school in Santa Fe, a city of about 13,000 people roughly 30 miles southeast of Houston. The wounded included a school police officer who was the first to confront the suspect and got shot in the arm.
Michael Farina, 17, said he was on the other side of campus when the shooting began and thought it was a fire drill. He was holding a door open for special education students in wheelchairs when a principal came bounding down the hall and telling everyone to run. Another teacher yelled out, "It is real!"
Students were led to take cover behind a car shop across the street from the school. Some still did not feel safe and began jumping the fence behind the shop to run even farther away, Farina said.
"I debated doing that myself," he said.
Comments
John 6 years, 6 months ago
Maybe someone can explain how these mass killers in the US survive to be safely arrested and taken into to custody by police, but persons stopped on a traffic offence ends up dead.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago
SIMPLE SOLUTION ........ Sentence the shooter and his whole immediate family (mother, father and siblings) to death for gross negligence and social irresponsibility ...... Parents and siblings need to be held responsible for these children ....... Stop looking for excuses for these children.
milesair 6 years, 6 months ago
The U.S. continues to prove that it is NOT a civilized country and the slaughter continues unabated. The gun nuts are running the show for which Trump is very much a part of this insane mentality. More children have been killed in school massacres this year in the U.S. than U.S. soldiers killed in all of the U.S. wars throughout the world! All the the GOP run U.S. Government ever offers is their "thoughts and prayers," an obvious meaningless gesture. Until some kind of sanity occurs in the form of strict gun control, this endless slaughter will continue. Don't hold your breath! In the U.S., insanity always prevails especially with regard to guns! The gun nuts use the excuse that the U.S. Constitution's 2nd Amendment gives everyone including the mentally unstable, the right to own and use a gun. However this amendment mentions "a militia," which means the military not U.S. citizens, have the right to possess a gun. The U.S. Supreme Court has created this nightmare by refusing to interpret the word militia correctly, just as they have given corporations the same rights as people in the U.S. These are just two examples of insanity personified in the U.S.
John 6 years, 6 months ago
Well the great debate in the media now is whether this 17 y/o boy should be charged with weapons of mass destruction, since the bombs found in his possession did not have detonating devices. But there are several things operating in the US that is fueling these mass shootings. Not necessarily agreeing that the parents should be held accountable because most of these young killers get their instincts from the internet or sources outside the home. There are websites that promote violence en masse and hate groups feed the aide that Americans are under threat of being attacked not only from foreign countries but also from factions within the country. Trumps plan to arm teachers will not be effective but only change the mode of attack.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 5 months ago
Sooooo, we are now saying that the parents can be excused because the children are running amok on the Internet????? ....... JOKES!!!
That is the problem ........ the Internet HAS replaced the parents as the real standard for moral and ethical behaviour ...... Too much slackness allowed for teenagers ......... Why are 15-17 year olds seem to be able to do as they please in the USA??????
tell_it_like_it_is 6 years, 5 months ago
This is America! Don't catch you slippin now...
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