Claims of bullying surface as Santa Fe community mourns mass shooting

Host family daughter, Jaelyn Cogburn is over come with emotions when talking about her exchange student / friend, Sabika Sheikh, killed in Santa Fe High School shooting at Masjid Sabireen Sunday, May 20, 2018, in Stafford. M.J. Khan is in the background. less Host family daughter, Jaelyn Cogburn is over come with emotions when talking about her exchange student / friend, Sabika Sheikh, killed in Santa Fe High School shooting at Masjid Sabireen Sunday, May 20, 2018, ... more Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 188 Caption Close Claims of bullying surface as Santa Fe community mourns mass shooting 1 / 188 Back to Gallery

SANTA FE — The mother of 16-year-old Shana Fisher, one of 10 people killed at Santa Fe High School in Friday's shooting, said the gunman targeted her daughter.

Sadie Rodriguez told an Associated Press reporter that the alleged shooter, 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, had made repeated romantic advances toward Fisher in the four months before the shooting. Pagourtzis once dated Fisher's best friend, Rodriguez wrote on Facebook Messenger.

"He kept making advances on her and she repeatedly told him no," Rodriguez told the Associated Press. "He continued to get more aggressive."

Rodriguez said that the week before the shooting, Fisher "stood up to him" by "embarrass(ing) him in class." Rodriguez gave no other details.

The revelation came hours after authorities released the names of those killed at Santa Fe High School Friday, identifying the eight students and two teachers slain in the deadliest school shooting in Texas in 50 years.

Photo: Jordan Rubio Total casualties, by year in Texas. This year has been the...

The teachers were identified as Glenda Perkins and Cynthia Tisdale, 64. The students included Fisher, 16; Angelique Ramirez, 15; Christopher Jake Stone, 17; Jared Black, 17; Christian Riley Garcia, 15; Sabika Sheikh; Aaron Kyle McLeod, 15; and Kimberly Vaughan.

“Please keep the families in your thoughts as they mourn this tragic loss,” Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady said in a statement that accompanied the list of the dead.

On Saturday, the FBI also raised the number of wounded in the attack to 13 from 10.

The accused shooter, 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, was arrested approximately half an hour after the shooting began, after exchanging gunfire with authorities. He was being held Saturday in solitary confinement at the Galveston County jail without bond, charged with capital murder and aggravated assault on a public servant. His lawyer, Nicholas Poehl, said his client is cooperating with authorities.

“Obviously this is a tough situation,” Poehl said. “He’s in difficult circumstances. He’s behaving consistently with that.”

Pagourtzis’ motives remain unclear. In an arrest affidavit, officers said Pagourtzis told them he avoided shooting students he liked, "so he could have his story told."

Poehl said that Pagourtzis’ family is barely beginning to wrap their minds around what happened at the high school Friday.

“The family is stunned,” he said. “In the zeitgeist, you say, ‘How could that happen?’ You can’t fake that shock and surprise.”

Poehl and attorney Robert Barfield, who is also working the case, said they are likely to request a competency and sanity evaluation.

More Information List of the dead: Glenda Perkins - Teacher Cynthia Tisdale - Teacher Kimberly Vaughan Shana Fisher Angelique Ramirez Christian Riley Garcia Jared Black Sabika Sheikh Christopher Jake Stone Aaron Kyle McLeod Source: Galveston County Criminal District Attorney

Poehl acknowledged comments by a classmate who has said in interviews with media outlets that school coaches bullied him.

“I’m fairly confident there was some truth to it,” but it’s unclear if that was a factor in the attack, Poehl said.

The school district disputed the bullying allegations in an unsigned Facebook post Saturday: “Administration looked into these claims and confirmed that these reports are untrue. … With respect for the bereaving families, faculty, and community, please remain mindful of information and how it is communicated.”

READ MORE: For Santa Fe community, a day of horror

Gracie Hamilton, a 17-year-old senior who said Pagourtzis was in her Advanced English 3 class, said she never saw or heard of anyone bullying the alleged shooter.

"He had good friends in that class," she said in a text message. "He was also well-liked by the football team."

FBI investigators and forensic technicians, meanwhile, combed the halls and classrooms of Santa Fe High School on Saturday. Yellow tape ringed the school to seal off the massive crime scene where authorities say Pagourtzis roamed with a shotgun and handgun.

Christina Garza, spokeswoman for the FBI’s Houston field office, said the search and collection of evidence is likely to be a long process. The FBI’s Houston field office is asking residents and others to avoid the area. Witnesses are asked to contact the FBI's Texas City office at 600 Gulf Freeway, Suite 211.

“It’s not going to be over today or tomorrow,” Garza said of the investigation.

Santa Fe ISD Police Chief Walter Braun on Saturday declined to answer questions but credited training for his department’s quick response that likely prevented more deaths and injuries.

“Our officers have been very, very resilient,” he said. “ We drill all the time with the students and staff and they’re prepared to go into action, as reflected by the two officers that engaged right away.”

On of those officers, John Barnes, remained sedated at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston to help him recover after being hit at close range in the arm by a shotgun blast. Surgeons had spent tense hours stemming bleeding that caused his heart to stop twice and nearly killed him, and which friends had feared might force his arm to be amputated.

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"There's so much damage from the gun wounds," said Houston Police Capt. Jim Dale, a close friend of Barnes, who spent more than 20 years with HPD before retiring and joining the 15-person Santa Fe ISD police department.

Galveston County Judge Mark Henry praised Barnes for his courage. “He ran toward danger, knowing it could be a problem,” Henry said. “And it was.”

Officials at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, meanwhile, said two students there were continuing to recuperate.

“One child remains in serious condition with multiple gunshot wounds, while the other is in good condition after being shot,” officials said in a statement Saturday afternoon. “In addition, a Santa Fe High School student who had been treated and released yesterday has been readmitted to the hospital for further observation and is in good condition.”

Political leaders said the community was reeling from tragedy but predicted that residents would unite to support victims, survivors and their families and to recover from the unspeakable tragedy.

“We are hurt but not broken,” Santa Fe Mayor-elect Jason Tabor said at a press conference. “Our strength comes through our resiliency.”

U.S. Rep. Randy Weber, R-Galveston, echoed Tabor: "We will pull together, we will grieve together, we will love one another and we will work together."

On Saturday afternoon, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said more must be done to end gun violence, adding that guns are too easily obtained.

“Certainly our thoughts and prayer extend to all of the families that have been impacted, whose loved ones have been wounded or killed,” he said. “But it’s getting to be one of those situations where we keep saying, ‘We extend our thoughts and prayers,’ but we’re going to have to just find a way to do more. We have to find a way to do more to protect our children, to protect our family members and friends, especially in schools, in their neighborhood, on their streets.”

His team is in Santa Fe, the police and fire chiefs, the chief medical officer and members of his office of emergency management, to assist in any way they can.

“No community is immune. That’s the reality,” he said. “What happened in Santa Fe could well have happened right in the city of Houston or any other community.”

At the high school, 17-year-old junior Tori White came to pick up her car, which she’d had to leave in the chaos the day before that had killed her friends.

“It’s going to be hard going back to school,” she said, hands in the pockets of a hoodie. “Not seeing those people in the hallways is going to be very tough.”

White said she talked to Pagourtzis once or twice.

“He just looked like another person in the hallways,” she said.

White, a Christian, said she can’t understand why her friends were taken, but said God “has plans for everyone, and if he took them, he took them for different reasons.”

After a vigil Friday, and a fundraiser that quickly raised more than $10,000 for the families of the victims, Santa Fe residents gathered Saturday night for a potluck.

Mary Bass, a prominent local chef, said she hoped the night would be a chance for Santa Fe residents to come together and bond.

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The message, she said, is to “build a longer table, not a taller wall.”

“And I’m just gonna stand here and give a lot of hugs,” she said.

She expects anywhere from 200 to 1,000 people to attend, and said more than 100 people are donating food or other items.

Justin Acree, 21, helped set up tables and prepare for the potluck. Included in the spread: jalapeño corn bread, Tex-Mex dip and sausage.

Acree was ready to eat. He’d been fasting and praying since he woke up at 6 a.m.

He felt like he needed to. He was homeschooled, so he didn’t know any of the victims, but he said he loves this town.

“This is my community,” he said. “And I’m going to do whatever I can to help.”

An hour after the potluck began, Rodriguez, Fisher's mother, stopped to thank Bass for organizing the event and to give her a hug. She briefly spoke about her daughter, breaking down in tears multiple times as she spoke to reporters.

She said the alleged gunman had been bullying her daughter and came to school Friday with the intent to kill her.

Sandra Wilson, 70, and Barbara Linkey, 72, have lived in Santa Fe for most of their lives. They remember the town how it used to be, before the population began ticking upward and nearby farm land turned into neighborhoods and shopping centers.

“It was just two roads,” Linkey said.

“It’s always been so peaceful,” Wilson said. “And then this happened.”

Even with more people around these days, they said there’s still a small-town feel to Santa Fe. Everyone seemed to know someone who was directly affected by the tragedy, amplifying its impact.

Neither women had fully come to terms with what happened.

“It kept me up all night,” Wilson said. “It’s hard to smile.”

Even so, the two friends will never stop loving the town.

“It’s just a wonderful place to be,” Linkey said. “Even with all of this — its a wonderful place to be.”

st.john.smith@chron.com

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