Jurors in Texas are set to resume deliberations on Monday regarding whether the parents of a Texas student, accused of killing 10 people in a 2018 school shooting near Houston, should be held financially responsible for damages.
The lawsuit, brought by the victims’ families, aims to hold Dimitrios Pagourtzis and his parents, Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos, financially accountable for the tragic shooting at Santa Fe High School on May 18, 2018. The plaintiffs are seeking at least $1 million in damages.
Attorneys representing the victims argue that the parents failed to adequately address their son’s mental health needs and did not take sufficient measures to prevent him from accessing their firearms.
“It was their son, living under their roof, with their guns, who carried out this mass shooting,” said Clint McGuire, an attorney representing some of the victims, during closing arguments in the Galveston courtroom.
According to authorities, Pagourtzis fatally shot eight students and two teachers. He was 17 years old at the time of the incident.
Now 23, Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder. However, the criminal proceedings have been delayed since November 2019, when he was deemed incompetent to stand trial. He is currently being held at a state mental health facility.
Lori Laird, the attorney for Pagourtzis’ parents, argued that their son’s mental health crisis was unforeseeable and that he concealed his intentions for the shooting. She also maintained that the parents had secured their firearms properly.
“The parents didn’t pull the trigger, and they didn’t hand him a gun,” Laird said.
Earlier this year, Jennifer and James Crumbley became the first parents in the U.S. to be convicted in connection with a mass school shooting, receiving a sentence of at least 10 years in prison from a Michigan judge. However, Pagourtzis’ parents are not facing any criminal charges.
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The lawsuit was initiated by the families of seven of the victims who were killed and four of the 13 individuals who were wounded in the Santa Fe attack. Attorneys representing some of the survivors spoke about the ongoing trauma they continue to suffer.
