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Officials: Few warning signs hinted at Texas school shooter’s intent

SANTA FE, Texas (AP) — Gov. Greg Abbott says there were few prior warnings about the suspected gunman who opened fire inside a Texas high school, unlike in other recent mass shootings.

Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset says 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder in the Friday morning shooting that killed 10 people and wounded 10 others in the community of Santa Fe.

Abbott said that “unlike Parkland, unlike Sutherland Springs, there were not those types of warning signs.” He was referring to the Feb. 14 school shooting in Florida and one in November inside a church in a town near San Antonio.

Abbott says “the red-flag warnings were either non-existent, or very imperceptible” in the case of the suspected Santa Fe shooter.

Pagourtzis is being held without bond in the Galveston County jail.

Abbott says investigators also found explosive devices, including a Molotov cocktail, in the school and nearby. The governor said the suspect told authorities after his arrest that he had intended to kill himself too, but that he lacked the courage.

At least one student isn’t at all surprised that a deadly shooting happened at her high school in Texas.

Paige Curry, 17, says “it’s been happening everywhere” and that she “always … felt like that eventually it was going to happen here too.”

Curry was sitting in a classroom when she “heard the loud booms.” It took a second for her to realize what was going on. She and her classmates ran onto the stage and hid together backstage, trying to keep each other calm until SWAT officers found them.

President Donald Trump is sent his condolences, calling the incident “absolutely horrific attack” and the”we’re with you in this tragic hour and we will be with you forever.”

The president says his administration is working to protect students, secure schools and keep weapons out of the hands of those who want to do harm.

The school is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.

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