Santa Fe Shooting Felt in Fleetwood

On Friday, 18 May 2018, seventeen-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis walked into Santa Fe High School with a .38 revolver and a shotgun, killing 10 people and injuring 10 others, according to The New York Times. The victims were Kimberly Vaughan, Cynthia Tisdale, Sabika Sheikh, Chris Stone, Jared Black, Shana Fisher, Glenda Anne Perkins, Angelique Ramirez, Christian Riley Garcia, and Aaron Kyle McLeod, according to CNN.

“School shooting in Texas. Early reports are not looking good. God bless all,” President Trump said in a Tweet, then said in a separate Tweet, “We grieve for the terrible loss of life, and send our support and love to everyone affected by this horrible attack in Texas. To the students, families, teachers and personnel at Santa Fe High School – we are with you in this tragic hour, and we will be with you forever…”

According to The New York Times, the shooting began after 7:30 am. 

Zachary Muehe, a sophomore was in the art room when the shooting began said in a phone interview, “I turned around, and I saw the kid who’s in my football class. I see him every day, and I saw him with a shotgun. I saw him in a trench coat. My immediate thought was just get out. He had one sawed-off shotgun, and he had a pistol… He was wearing a trench coat with combat boots. He had a ‘Born to Kill’ shirt on. It was crazy watching him shoot and then pump. I remember seeing the shrapnel from the tables, whatever he hit. I remember seeing the shrapnel go past my face.”

“I feel like it could have been handled better. It took 25 minutes [to apprehend Pagourtzis], and that’s an absurdly long time! I would have tried to protect as many students as possible. There needs to be stricter gun laws. Automatic weapons aren’t necessary. I don’t think people are trying to ‘do away’ with the 2nd Amendment, just modify it. The Amendments were written hundreds of years ago. They are not ‘cemented’ and can be altered. Regular civilians do not need assault rifles,” English teacher Sarah Wilkinson said.

“The first time I heard about the event was at church on Sunday. I wasn’t aware of it because I haven’t been keeping up with the events that had been occurring. We’ve been trying to pray as much as we can for the people because I know we are called to do that for those involved and those that are affected from the ripple effects of something so tragic as that. But I was saddened by how often this has happened, and I know we are supposed to have this compassion. I wasn’t feeling that compassion when I had been praying. I was afraid I was becoming used to hearing all the different events, but the way our pastor prayed for the families of those involved, I started crying. I joined in with the praying, but I was also thankful that the compassion was back and that I wasn’t just being accustomed to it. I heard of one of the teachers locked all of the students in a room and said ‘If anything, I’m going first.’ So I would love to think that Christ in me would shine through in that time,” junior Joshua Leggett said.