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Father of Accused Texas Shooter Believes Bullying Was Behind Rampage
Wall Street Journal ^ | 22 May 2018 | Costas Paris

Posted on 05/23/2018 3:58:05 AM PDT by Magnatron

The father of the 17-year-old charged with killing 10 people at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, said Monday that his son was a “good boy” and had been “mistreated at school.”

Antonios Pagourtzis said in a brief phone interview with The Wall Street Journal that his son Dimitrios was bullied and “I believe that’s what was behind” the shooting.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis is being held without bond at the Galveston County Jail after he allegedly burst into an art classroom Friday morning at Santa Fe High School armed with a shotgun and pistol and opened fire, before surrendering to police. In a probable cause statement, authorities said he admitted to the shooting.

The Santa Fe Independent School District didn’t respond to requests for comment on whether Dimitrios Pagourtzis was bullied. On Saturday, it denied reports that he was bullied by high-school coaches in this small rural Texas to

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: antoniospagourtzis; dimitriospagourtzis; pagourtzis; santafe
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If this boy was bullied, it’s sad, but certainly doesn’t justify this heinous act.

Still, I think this father and the kid’s mother should be in adjacent jail cells with their son, charged as accessories.

Parents need to start being held more responsible for things their children do.

1 posted on 05/23/2018 3:58:05 AM PDT by Magnatron
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To: Magnatron

So? I was harassed and bullied, and while I did lash out by hitting the kid bullying me, I never decided to solve my bullies with my mother’s kitchen knives or my father’s guns.


2 posted on 05/23/2018 4:01:31 AM PDT by Morpheus2009
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To: Magnatron

The parents should be held criminally responsible.

The father is a lot like one of the Columbine fathers - who refused to accept responsibility for his son. It leads you to want to know more about his so-called fathering (and mothering) skills. Have we heard from the mother?


3 posted on 05/23/2018 4:01:42 AM PDT by miss marmelstein
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To: Magnatron

If a child is being mistreated at school to this extent, why on earth would a parent continue to send him to school? Courses can be done on-line at home. I suggest the father doesn’t actually know, but bullying seems to be the go-to reason these days. I want to know how long the kid has been on mind-altering medication.


4 posted on 05/23/2018 4:05:33 AM PDT by JudyinCanada
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To: Magnatron

> Parents need to start being held more responsible for things their children do.

Such as bullying other kids to the point of mass murdering rampages.


5 posted on 05/23/2018 4:06:31 AM PDT by thoughtomator (Number of arrested coup conspirators to date: 0)
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To: Magnatron

I don’t know...by all accounts the family seems normal. I think thi s kid just snapped.


6 posted on 05/23/2018 4:10:32 AM PDT by rrrod (just an old guy with a gun in his pocket)
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To: rrrod

agreed. I think this is more common than people know. The day of the shooting, I read accounts of interviews with some of the students that said this boy was harassed and bullied constantly, including by his coach and some teachers. This sort of thing has more to do with these tragedies than parents who “let their near adult children get hold of their guns”; teenagers have always had access to guns in this country, this shit didn’t happen till liberal elitist assholes became our public school staff. If his parents are like most first gen immigrants from Europe, they told the kid to buck up and don’t complain.


7 posted on 05/23/2018 4:28:49 AM PDT by Segovia
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To: Magnatron
And we have to go to the overseas press to find out the shooter was the real bully. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44194074
8 posted on 05/23/2018 4:34:12 AM PDT by DocRock (And now is the time to fight! Peter Muhlenberg)
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To: Magnatron
Serious question: Why has this shooting not produced a Hogg-type? Nothing fit the media gun control narrative? No one at that Texas high school willing to be the media's whore? Hogg himself unwilling to give up the limelight to another? It feels like this story's already been mostly forgotten.


9 posted on 05/23/2018 4:34:58 AM PDT by Trump20162020
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To: Magnatron

“.....father and the kid’s mother should be in adjacent jail cells with their son, charged as accessories.”........

Would you care to explain your statement?


10 posted on 05/23/2018 4:35:13 AM PDT by DaveA37
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To: Magnatron

Keep saying that.... until you have an uncontrollable juvenile delinquent for a child, and the authorities do NOTHING.


11 posted on 05/23/2018 4:35:38 AM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
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To: JudyinCanada

It’s not a defense, but the information so far says the shooter showed no signs that problems existed.

I mean, adolescence is like temporary insanity... Moving from childhood to adulthood. For them, adulthood is like getting an fancy new car with all the bells and whistles... but with NO driving instruction, no experience and no owners manual.

Add to all this ... that the kid is trying to cope with emotional problems associated with bullying...and any other problems in his life (family, school, girlfriend). It’s a scary cocktail for unprepared kids and every kid is a case by case example of how it’s handled or mishandled.


12 posted on 05/23/2018 4:38:03 AM PDT by SMARTY ("Nearly all men can stand adversity...to test a man's character, give him power." A. Lincoln)
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To: Magnatron

In all of these incidents of children killing children, I never seem to see any reference to any religious affillation by the shooters or their families. Therefore I am assuming there is none. Do these families have any visible relationship with God? Is the lack of such a common thread in all of these events?

Perhaps if they had put “In God we trust” into practice, their child and themselves could have been spared. We did and we drove to school with guns hanging on racks in the rear window of our trucks and parked in the school parking lot. It never crossed our minds to shoot any human being.

Why? In our homes and at church we were taught what Jesus said.

“Love the Lord with all thy heart, mind and soul, and love thy neighbor as thyself.” If we abide by these two commandments then the other eight become moot. The one about thy shalt not kill is not in play.


13 posted on 05/23/2018 4:39:28 AM PDT by Saltmeat
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To: Saltmeat

I thought with this one they showed the kid at a Greek church. That doesn’t mean he was spiritually engaged, of course.


14 posted on 05/23/2018 4:45:29 AM PDT by GnuThere
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To: Morpheus2009

None of the kids I bullied ever turned into Homicidal maniacs.


15 posted on 05/23/2018 4:46:01 AM PDT by MuttTheHoople (Yes, Liberals, I question your patriotism)
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To: rrrod
I don’t know...by all accounts the family seems normal. I think this kid just snapped.

If your kid is building bombs in your house and in possession of your weapons without your knowledge, you’re not parenting.

16 posted on 05/23/2018 4:46:09 AM PDT by Magnatron
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To: Magnatron

“If your kid is building bombs in your house ...”

I built dozens of all varieties when I was a teenager. Estes rocket motors, homemade black powder, M-80s empties out, my mom didn’t know about it.

I never blew up a building or shot the school up.

L


17 posted on 05/23/2018 4:51:05 AM PDT by Lurker (President Trump isn't our last chance. President Trump is THEIR last chance.)
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To: DaveA37
Would you care to explain your statement?

See post 16. Kids grow up like this in a vacuum. If there really was bullying going on, the parents have options. How do I know? Because we have a bullied autistic child right now. But I can guarantee you he will not be shooting up any schools in the future.

18 posted on 05/23/2018 4:51:12 AM PDT by Magnatron
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To: JudyinCanada
I want to know how long the kid has been on mind-altering medication.

It seems to be the factor that is always ignored in the media coverage.

19 posted on 05/23/2018 4:55:28 AM PDT by CaptainK ("no collusion, no obstruction, he's a leaker")
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To: Magnatron

Bullying doesn’t start suddenly when a kid is in high school. It begins when they are little. Usually, the kids are a little different and other kids make them outcasts and they stay that way, so it becomes a way of life. It starts with maybe being called a booger picker when they are five and escalates, they face it every day of their lives, afraid to walk down a hall, into a room. They also hide it, because they feel guilt for letting it happen to them, not fighting back, running from the bullies. It is a heinous abuse cycle and calling it being bullied is ridiculous. It Is domestic abuse and the schools are culpable, they know who the outcast are and they know who the abusers are, they do nothing.


20 posted on 05/23/2018 5:01:49 AM PDT by Toespi
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