Attorneys for the victims of a 2018 school shooting near Houston urged jurors to hold the shooter's parents accountable on Friday. They argued the parents neglected their son's mental health and failed to secure their firearms, enabling him to kill 10 people at Santa Fe High School. The victims' lawsuit seeks at least $1 million from Dimitrios Pagourtzis and his parents, Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos.
In closing statements, attorney Clint McGuire emphasized the parents' responsibility, stating, "It was their son, under their roof, with their guns who went and committed this mass shooting." In the lead up to the shooting, McGuire noted that Pagourtzis racked up more than 50 school absences, took few showers, and largely stayed in his room; he described those actions as mental illness symptoms Pagourtzis' parents should have picked up on. The lawsuit was filed by relatives of seven victims and four wounded survivors. Pagourtzis is' charged with capital murder but has been deemed incompetent to stand trial since November 2019.
The defense argued that Pagourtzis' severe mental illness left him incapable of controlling his actions. Nevertheless, McGuire maintained Pagourtzis knew his actions were wrong, citing his journal entries about the shooting. Antonios and Kosmetatos testified they saw no warning signs or changes indicating their son's intent. Their firearms were supposedly kept in a secure gun safe and cabinet; whether he took the guns he used from the safe or cabinet and where he found the keys to them were points that were argued during the trial. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)
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