Two substitute teachers and a student from Pakistan were among 10 people killed in the mass shooting at a Texas high school on Friday in which at least 10 more were injured. Other students who were killed were also identified on Saturday.

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The 17-year-old suspect, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, was held on a capital murder charge after the shooting in Santa Fe, about 30 miles south-east of Houston.

Play Video 1:10 Texas high school shooting results in multiple deaths – video report

Family members confirmed that a substitute teacher, Cynthia Tisdale, was among the dead. Tisdale’s niece, Leia Olinde, said Tisdale was like a mother to her and helped her shop for wedding dresses last year.

“She helped me put it on, she helped fix my hair,” Olinde, 25, told the Associated Press, through tears. “She was wonderful. She was just so loving. I’ve never met a woman who loved her family so much.”

Cynthia Tisdale, top right, with her husband, Recicie Tisdale, center, and niece Olinde, left. Photograph: Eric Sanders/AP

She said Tisdale was married for close to 40 years and had three children and eight grandchildren. Olinde’s fiance, Eric Sanders, said: “Words don’t explain her lust for life and the joy she got from helping people.”

Tisdale’s brother-in-law, John, wrote on Facebook: “We never know when our death will come. Cynthia planned on one day retiring and being a full-time grandmother. It will never happen.”

A dance studio in Santa Fe posted a picture on Facebook of Ann Perkins, 64, another substitute teacher. “She was an amazing mom and an adored substitute who was loved by all,” the studio said.

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, issued a statement about the Pakistani student who died, sending his “deepest condolences to the family and friends of Sabika Sheikh”. Pompeo said Sabika, 17, was in the US on the state department-sponsored Youth Exchange and Study program “helping to build ties between the US and her native Pakistan”. The Pakistani embassy in Washington also identified Sabika as a victim.

Sabika’s father, Abdul Aziz Sheikh, told the AP from his home in Karachi that his daughter, the oldest of four children, had left Pakistan last August and was expected to return home in a few weeks for Eid al-Fitr, a three-day holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.

“We are still in a state of denial,” he said, choking back tears. “We can’t believe it. It’s like a nightmare.”

Sheikh said he had learned of the tragedy from TV reports. “I called her but she did not reply. I kept calling and sending her messages. My daughter always replies. Or at least sends a message saying she’ll call back soon. But yesterday, that didn’t happen.”

Chris Stone was also killed. “He was the class clown, everybody loved him,” David Sustaita, 18, told the Guardian. “The nicest guy you’d ever meet. He’d crack jokes, everybody liked him, all the teachers liked him. We played football together; knew him since I was a kid, good guy.”

Christian Riley Garcia was 15. “Whenever I needed him he was always there,” said Brandon Santell, also 15. “To be honest, he was like my brother. And it was just so hard to hear that he went out being a hero. People are telling me that Chris was shot pushing two people out of the way and later on they found his body with those two bodies.

“He would always like to make people smile, he would always crack jokes. He could always make you feel more confident about yourself. Without him I probably would not be who I am.”

Christian’s church posted a picture on Facebook that it said had been taken about 10 days ago, showing he had written a Bible verse on a wooden door frame of what was to be his bedroom in a house under construction.

Students Angelique Ramirez, 15; Jared Conard Black, 17; Aaron Kyle McLeod, 15; Shana Fisher, 16; and Kimberly Vaughan were also killed.

Ramirez, who had flame-red dyed hair, was confirmed dead by her aunt, Sylvia Pritchett, in a Facebook post. Kimberly Vaughan’s death was confirmed by her mother, Rhonda Hart, also via Facebook. Hart later wrote: “Folks – call your damn senators. Call your congressmen. We need GUN CONTROL. WE NEED TO PROTECT OUR KIDS.”

Shana Fisher’s mother told the Houston Chronicle her daughter was a “beautiful, smart, funny and talented” girl who turned 16 on 9 May. “She had a lot of love in her heart,” she said.

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Among those injured on Friday were a school resource officer and a sophomore baseball player.

Officer John Barnes was shot in the arm, requiring surgery, said David Marshall, chief nursing officer at the University of Texas medical branch. Barnes was the first to engage Pagourtzis, Marshall said.



The sophomore baseball player Rome Shubert said the gunman walked into his classroom and tossed something on to desks. Shubert told the Chronicle he then heard “three loud pops” before the attacker fled into the hall. Shubert said he realized he had been wounded as he was running out of the back door. Shubert said he was hit in the back of his head with what he said was a bullet, but that it “missed everything vital”. He also tweeted that he was OK and stable.

On Saturday, a hospital treating three of the injured said one patient, a minor, was in good condition. Of the other two patients, one was in serious condition and one was in critical condition.