Written by By MaryAnn Spoto, CNN
Armed with a Walther P22 9mm handgun, expelled student Dimitrios Pagourtzis entered a suburban high school on Friday armed with multiple rounds of ammunition and a search tool designed to fire one round at a time, firing indiscriminately at those in his path.
Pagourtzis fatally shot 10 people and wounded two before surrendering to law enforcement in the ensuing chaos and bloodshed. It has since been revealed that the suspect bought the gun on Black Friday, the day after Christmas.
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The high school massacre was the deadliest U.S. school shooting since a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in February.
Pagourtzis was heard shouting “I’m going to kill you all!” and “You’re going to die! I am going to kill you all!” during the attack, according to CNN affiliate WAFB.
He also reportedly posted a “suicide by cop” note to Instagram several days before the shooting. It’s unclear what is behind the note.
He was taken into custody without a struggle, the Houston police chief and TxDPS superintendent said.
Speaking to CNN, Christian Medina, who lives near the rural Houston suburb of Santa Fe, said his mother had seen his posted pictures and social media videos as early as Thursday.
On Saturday, the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed to CNN that the suspect had been expelled from Santa Fe High School in the spring.
A preliminary investigation indicated Pagourtzis brought a loaded shotgun and revolver to the school on Friday and used them to shoot multiple people, DPS said.
The suspected shooter also used a MAC-10 carbine and produced “copious amounts of homemade shrapnel” as part of his attack, DPS said.
Gov. Greg Abbott said it was a “very well-prepared shooter.”
Local media reported Pagourtzis played football at the school and played for a junior varsity team in the fall.
Santa Fe ISD says Pagourtzis was a freshman at the school.
A search of his home by detectives yielded bomb-making materials, a destructive device and the shotgun and revolver that were used in the shooting, DPS said.
The district said in a statement it “will strive to learn from this terrible tragedy.”
The White House called the attacks a tragedy.
“The President hopes for a speedy recovery for the wounded, and his thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the tragedy in Texas,” a White House statement said.
Bryan Matthew Topp, president of Santa Fe Independent School District, said he does not know how Pagourtzis had the courage to carry out the attack but said “only people with training would have the ability to do something like this.”
“Some things you can see. Some things you can’t. People do crazy things,” Topp said, adding that he does not want the killings to divert the attention from other issues.