HOUSTON – This story will be updated as more information becomes available during opening statements.
Opening statements wrapped up Wednesday after a jury of 12, along with two alternates, have been seated in the civil trial against the parents of Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the gunman accused of killing 10 people in the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting.
This comes after several family members of those killed and injured during the shooting sued the parents of Pagourtzis.
Their lawsuit claims Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos should have done more to seek mental health treatments for their son and to ensure he did not have access to firearms.
Antonios and Kosmetatos have denied any wrongdoing.
The civil trial is expected to last three weeks, according to attorneys.
Defense attorney opening statements
5:30 p.m. - Opening statements have wrapped up. The first witnesses will testify Thursday.
4:15 p.m. - Lori Laird, Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos’ attorney opening statements:
- Laird opened his statements by calling out the failure of the school and Lucky Gunner, the place that sold ammo to Dimitrios.
- He said Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos had normal troubles with parenting but were still loving and married.
- It was stated that Antonios Pagourtzis had two kids from a previous marriage and that Dimitrios’ sister is willing to testify.
- Laird described the family to have shared meals together and were loving to one another.
- The attorney stated that Dimitrios was researching worse things on the school’s computer, such as school shootings, weapons, suicide -- in which he was never caught doing this or notified the parents of his behavior.
- Laird said there were no crimes committed by Dimitrios, no run-ins with law enforcement, no drugs, no alcohol, no disciplinary problems prior to the shooting.
- He admits that Dimitrios was caught plagiarizing by using Wikipedia and the only reason his mother, Rose Marie Kosmetatos, found out is that she asked her son why he failed his paper.
- Laird described Rose Marie Kosmetatos as a hands on mother and was only as happy as her least happy child.
- Rose Marie Kosmetatos admitted that Dimitrios never told them that he was being bullied at school. That coaches reportedly called him “pork and cheese” and was given the wrong address for team meetings.
- Their attorney said the family has had to move Dimitrios younger sister out of Santa Fe because of bullying. His mother reportedly had no idea what was going on in her son’s mind.
- Laird stated that Dimitrios never asked for help from anyone and had no prior anger problems or aggression.
3:54 p.m. - Roberto Torres, Dimitrios Pagourtzis’ attorney, opening statements:
- Torres said he does not want to dispute evidence but that at the time of the shooting, Dimitrios was 17 years old and in the 11th grade.
- He said Dimitrios wasn’t just mentally impaired, but severely impaired, and in his own world for three years, which was a gradual decline.
- Torres said over the course of three years, evidence shows a different Dimitrios emerging, a slow painful descent into a personal hell.
- He stated that Dimitrios knew something was wrong with him, that he wasn’t violent growing up but that something emerged. The parents of Dimitrios said they did not recognize the change in their son.
- Torres said he does not dispute that the shooting was planned by Dimitrios but that it was not controlled of his planning. Dimitrios reportedly asked for help in his way, that he knew something was happening that he did not like.
- His attorney stated that he doesn’t dispute the writing in his journal about planning the shooting, but he was bullied by students, bullied by teachers and had family problems.
- Torres said all of this happened as Dimitrios was undiagnosed with mental health problems emerging.
- “Yes, he pulled the trigger, yes, he purchased ammo,” Torres said.
- He stated that Dimitrios’ parents did take some steps to secure weapons -- even if negligent with weapon storage or spotting their son’s mental health problems -- it is in indisputable there was no ammo for the weapons.
- Torres said Lucky Gunner sold the ammo to Dimitrios. That he ordered the ammo like a teenager orders pizza, “It was that easy, ammo delivered like a pizza to front door,” his attorney said.
3:44 p.m. - A brief 10-minute recess was called before Roberto Torres, Dimitrios Pagourtzis attorney, was called with his opening statements.
3:15 p.m. - During opening statements from attorney McGuire, the selected jury was handed the following questionnaire:
Page 6 of CV81158; Juror Questionnaire (1)
2:30 p.m. - Plaintiffs’ attorney opening statements
- The plaintiffs attorney, Clint McGuire, opened his statements saying Dimitrios spent months of planning the mass shooting and that his parents, Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos, showed no remorse for the victims or their families.
- The suspect was caught plagiarizing his attack and Rose Marie Kosmetatos reportedly writes to the school to inform them on what’s happening in 2017, stating that he’s never done this before.
- McGuire stated that Dimitrios was left alone a lot as his father worked long hours offshore, noting that his relationship with his father was strained.
- McGuire described Dimitrios as someone who is miserable, depressed, hates, feels ostracized, does not have good relationship with family and that he has never had girlfriend.
- McGuire said Dimitrios stopped caring about school as records show that he’s had too many absences. That Dimitrios wanted to get away from the abuse at home, school and that he hates his parents.
- Dimitrios reportedly referenced prior school shootings and even considered himself an expert.
- McGuire said for Christmas, the suspect requested for his mother to buy him a trench. His classmates even told him that he dressed like a Columbine High School shooter.
- Four months before the shooting, Dimitrios grabbed Antonios Pagourtzis’ shotgun from a display cabinet, saws barrel and stock off and then grab another shotgun and also saws barrel and stock. He does this for the third shotgun in a display cabinet (last one is pump action, 12-guage) and gets his mother’s .38 caliber handgun.
- He carried his mother’s pistol, dad’s shotgun, knives, bombs and Molotov cocktails and then begins his attack.
- Dimitrios abandons plan to commit suicide, taunts other students with “another one bites the dust” and answering victims cellphones, speaking for victims who can’t speak for themselves.”
- McGuire said this deadly shooting was intentional and premeditated, stating that it was planned for months. He reportedly wanted to wrong others to right the perceived wrongs to him.
- Dimitrios even got the bell schedule to inflict maximum damage, intentional and he knew what he was doing was wrong. That he concealed his plans, brought items with cash cards and hid bombs, stating that his motive was revenge.
- McGuire said Dimitrios was not targeting any one person and went into the art room to avoid detection.
- It was stated that Dimitrios felt he was treated as subhuman and had no remorse for what he was going to do.
- McGuire state that there were multiple red flags and his parents knew their son was suffering from depression but didn’t get him help or lock up guns. He said the parents have a responsibility.
- That Tuesday before the shooting, Dimitrios mother reportedly asked, “why are you acting this way, are you depressed, I should have let your father beat the shit out of you when you were younger, maybe I should have beat the shit out of you,” the attorney stated.
- McGuire also brought up the interview Dimitrios father had with a Greek radio station where he said he looked around his office and noticed there were no pictures of his son smiling and that they had failed in their job as parents.
- A picture of Antonios Pagourtzis’ gun safe was showed to the jury. McGuire said Dimitrios monitored where the guns were locate and whether they were locked up. That he wanted to make sure guns were not moved from display case to new gun safe that was brought from Academy.
- Dimitrios reportedly told investigators that he took the gun so his parents would not notice, also storing bomb materials in his father’s gun safe.
- Antonios Pagourtzis claimed that he checked his gun safe frequently but that Dimitrios had the keys.
- McGuire reiterated that the shooting was predictable and preventable, stating that a complete compensation is the debt created by Dimitrios.
- He stated that Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos must be required to pay in full in an amount exceeding $1 million.
Criminal case in shooting
The criminal case against Pagourtzis remains at a standstill because he remains incompetent to stand trial. Doctors at North Texas State Hospital in Vernon have been working to restore his competency since 2019.
