The mother of one of the 10 people killed at a Texas high school said her daughter recently rejected the romantic advances of the 17-year-old charged in the shootings, a possible motive for the violent tragedy.
Sadie Rodriguez said her daughter, Shana Fisher, had made clear that she was not interested in Dimitrios Pagourtzis.
“He continued to get more aggressive,” Rodriguez said in an interview conducted on Saturday via Facebook. “She finally stood up to him and embarrassed him.”
Photo: AFP
The incident took place one week before the shooting, she said.
Police have not yet said what might have motivated the attack.
Asked about Rodriguez’s allegation, a lawyer for the Pagourtzis’ family said he had not heard about any such interaction between Pagourtzis and any of the victims and therefore could not comment.
“That’s news to me,” said lawyer Nicholas Poehl, though he cautioned that he had spent much of the day disputing false rumors about the teen’s personal life.
Earlier on Saturday, Poehl issued a statement from the family saying that they were “as shocked and confused as anyone else by these events that occurred” and asked for privacy.
“While we remain mostly in the dark about the specifics of yesterday’s tragedy, what we have learned from media reports seems incompatible with the boy we love,” the family’s statement said.
A junior at Santa Fe High, Pagourtzis hid a shotgun and a handgun under his trenchcoat before opening fire in a first-period art class on Friday, according to an affidavit filed by police.
The FBI on Saturday said that it had taken the lead in the joint investigation, at the request of local authorities.
“He gave a statement admitting to shooting multiple people inside the Santa Fe High School with the intent on killing people,” the police affidavit said. “Dimitrios advised he did not shoot students he did like so he could have his story told.”
The attack ended when Pagourtzis walked out of a classroom and surrendered to police.
Although Pagourtzis allegedly wrote about his intention to carry out the attack, authorities have not indicated a motive for the violence.
Santa Fe’s baseball team took the field on Saturday night after voting to play its scheduled regional quarter-final playoff as a show of strength and a means of catharsis in the face of tragedy.
Pitcher Rome Shubert, who was shot in the back of the head, but survived, and catcher Trent Beazley, who was grazed in his side, joined their team for the opening line-up. Neither played, but cheered their teammates from the dugout.
The Santa Fe Indians lost 7-0 to the Kingwood Park team.
Additional reporting by AFP
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