Security forces are deployed around Santa Fe High School in Texas, the United States, on May 18, 2018. Eight to ten people have been killed after a shooter opened fire inside Santa Fe High School Friday morning in the southeast of Houston, in the U.S. state of Texas, local police said. (Xinhua/Steven Song)
HOUSTON, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Ten people were killed and another ten wounded when a shooter opened fire inside Santa Fe High School in the southeast of Houston, in the U.S. state of Texas, Friday morning, Texas Governor Greg Abbott confirmed.
During a press briefing near the high school, Abbott said, "It is with a very heavy heart that I can confirm that as of this time, there have been 10 lives that have been lost and another 10 that have been wounded."
"We grieve for the victims who lost their lives at Santa Fe High School and we pray for the families who are suffering and will continue to suffer in the days to come," he added.
The governor described the shooting as "one of the hideous attacks" that has ever happened in the histories of Texas schools, a place of learning where parents should be able to send their children without fear for their children's safety.
Earlier, law enforcement identified the suspect as 17-year-old Santa Fe student Dimitrios Pagourtzis.
Abbott said Pagourtzis gave himself up to the police without the courage of committing suicide which he planned to do.
In his journals and computer, the suspect said he wanted to commit the shooting and then suicide. The suspect is currently at the Santa Fe Police Department, police said.
The governor also confirmed that two weapons were used in the attack, a shotgun and a .38 revolver. Both weapons are legally owned by the suspect's father. There is no information whether the father is aware that the son took the weapons.
Abbott said different kinds of explosive devices were detected in a home and in a vehicle of the shooter. Several law enforcement agencies are working together to analyze the explosives.
Earlier in the day, an unnamed Santa Fe police officer told reporters the suspect shooter was in custody and another person was detained and questioned. "Both of them are students," he said.
The officer urged local residents to stay alarmed and call 911 when seeing something suspicious.
Local police also confirmed that a Santa Fe Independent School District (ISD) officer was injured in the shooting and is under surgery with critical condition.
Several ambulances, including a mass casualty ambulance, along with multiple Life Flight helicopters, were seen at the site. Multiple victims were transported to a nearby hospital, some of them in critical condition.
Interviewed by media, several students said they had been trained what to do when a shooting happens, but never thought a real shooting would happen.
Santa Fe High School is located in Galveston County, about 54 km southeast of downtown Houston. There are about 1,400 students in the high school. Santa Fe is a city with a population of about 13,000.
The school was on lockdown Friday.
The county is about 360 km east of Sutherland Springs, Texas, where a gunman barged into a church last November and murdered 26 people.
