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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

At Least 10 Dead After School Shooting In Santa Fe, Texas

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

At least nine dead and 10 more injured - those are the official numbers after another school shooting in the United States. This time it happened in Texas at Santa Fe High School outside Houston. Here's Governor Greg Abbott speaking at a news conference this afternoon.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

GREG ABBOTT: We come together today as we deal with one of the most heinous attacks that we've ever seen in the history of Texas schools.

SHAPIRO: A suspect is in custody and being questioned. Explosive devices were also found on the scene. Investigators are now trying to understand what happened and why. Joining us is NPR's Scott Detrow, who is in Santa Fe. Hi, Scott.

SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.

SHAPIRO: Briefly take us through what we know so far about the events today.

DETROW: Yeah. This happened early in the school day in the 8 o'clock hour. The shooter had a shotgun and a revolver. Students say he entered the building wearing a trench coat that the weapons were concealed under. As you mentioned, he killed 10 people. He injured an additional 10. Two of those are injured critically according to authorities. Law enforcement was at the school already. There were officers stationed there. They were able to respond quickly, and the shooter surrendered, though one local police officer is among the wounded. The shooter is alive and currently in custody at the police station.

SHAPIRO: And what can you tell us about him?

DETROW: His name is Dimitrios Pagourtzis, according to what law enforcement officials have told NPR. He's a student at the school. Authorities say he got the two weapons from his father, though it's unclear at this time whether his father knew the weapons were missing or what the circumstances of that were.

According to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, there were no clear warning signs popping up just yet. Abbott did mention something that we've been seeing a lot on social media - that there are pictures out there of Pagourtzis wearing a T-shirt that read born to kill, one of those things that looks very ominous in retrospect. Abbott said police have already found journals, online postings indicating that Pagourtzis had originally planned on committing suicide. But authorities were able to get him to surrender.

SHAPIRO: And police are also questioning two people of interest. What can you tell us about that?

DETROW: We don't know too much about them right now. According to Governor Abbott, one of them was acting suspiciously, so police are asking follow-up questions. It's unclear at this point whether that second person was involved in the shootings. The second person of interest they're talking to - according to Abbott, he might have certain information. That's all we know. It's really unclear what that means.

Police do have warrants to search the shooter's vehicle and house as well as a second location. But according to the governor, police are moving very cautiously on those fronts because they have found explosive devices at several of those locations, and they want to be careful.

SHAPIRO: At the press conference today, Governor Abbott spoke about making sure this is the last school shooting in Texas.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

ABBOTT: We need to do more than just pray for the victims and their families. It's time in Texas that we take action.

SHAPIRO: Do more than just pray - Scott Detrow, what kind of action is the governor proposing?

DETROW: Abbott says he's open to anything. He wants to hold a roundtable early next week to start beginning discussions. Some of the early things he mentioned at this press conference - the ideas of more background checks, strategies to keep guns out of the hands of people with mental health issues, rethinking school safety.

You know, it's interesting. Abbott, Senator Ted Cruz, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick all standing there - these are people who are strong NRA allies, but they're saying, we want to do something. And we did see Florida pass a lot of gun control laws right after the Parkland shooting a few months ago. So it'll be interesting to watch if anything happens here in Texas.

SHAPIRO: We're going to have more coverage of the story throughout the show, including voices of survivors. Scott Detrow, thanks very much.

DETROW: Sure thing. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Scott Detrow is a White House correspondent for NPR and co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.