HOUSTON – This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Friday marked day two for witnesses to testify 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.
Several witnesses took the stand on Thursday after opening statements wrapped Wednesday.
Former Santa Fe High School student Isabelle Laymance was first on the stand to describe the day of the shooting. Following Laymance’s testimony, Brent Cooley, former Galveston County Sheriff’s Office deputy, took the stand and got into a heated exchange with defense attorney, Lori Laird.
Key testimony came from retired Santa Fe Police Captain Phillip Meadows who was questioned about his interview with Pagourtzis on the day of the shooting and what he said the teen told him where and how he got the guns and ammunition, why he felt like a second-class citizen and how he felt about his father.
This comes after several family members of those killed and injured during the shooting sued the parents of Pagourtzis.
RELATED: Witnesses take the stand in civil trial against parents of Santa Fe HS shooter, Dimitrios 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.
LIVE UPDATES:
5:30 p.m. -- Civil trial wraps up for the day
3:36 p.m. -- Roberto Torres, Dimitrios attorney, now questioning Meadows
- Torres asked Meadows general questions about Dimitrios in a state of delusion.
3:05 p.m. -- McGuire passes witness to defense counsel Lori Laird
- Laird asks about what questions Meadows asked Dimitrios while in patrol car?
- Meadows said about other shooters and bombs in the building.
- Laird asks about Dimitrios statement on “How long before a lawyer gets here?”
- Meadows said he asked Dimitrios if he still wanted to talk to him and he said he yes.
- Meadows stated that he spent a total of an hour and a half with Dimitrios.
- Laird: Dimitrios said to you, “It didn’t feel real to me,” did that indicate to you there was some mental health issue?
- Meadows stated, “I’m not sure how I felt about that at the time.”
- He said he saw a lot of emotion from Dimitrios, a release of emotion.
- Laird asked Meadows about the gunshot residue test was done and how it works.
2:58 p.m. -- Meadows testimony resumes
2:32 p.m. --Judge takes brief recess at request of defense counsel
11:53 p.m. -- Phillip Meadows, the retired Santa Fe City police captain at time of shooting, continues testimony as witness
- Meadows had multiple interviews with Dimitrios at the police station.
- During one interview, Meadows said he needed a break because they had gone straight from the high school.
- He stated that the first interview happened around 8:20 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
- Audio from the video taped statement with Dimitrios played Meadows reading him his Miranda Rights.
- In the audio, Dimitrios asked, “What happens to me now? Is something going to happen to me now? How long will it take for a lawyer to get here?”
- Meadows responded, “I don’t know, do you still want to talk to me?” And Dimitrios replied, “Yes.”
- Meadows said Dimitrios told him that he took guns from a wooden gun safe in his home, that he has done this twice -- a shotgun and .38-caliber handgun.
- Dimitrios talked about people picking on him at school, talked about another student who committed suicide in January that year.
- Dimitrios also said he pulled guns from the cabinet prior to the shooting.
- Meadows said Dimitrios also told him that he had keys to the gun safe.
- Dimitrios also told Meadows that he had Visa gift cards from Kroger in Alvin, Texas so he could get online and purchase ammo from Luckygunner.com.
- While interviewing Dimitrios, an active investigation was happening at the school, looking for potential bombs. Officers were on scene texting Meadows with questions about explosive devices at the school, other shooters.
- Meadows said he would ask Dimitrios and he told him that he had a pressure cooker at a trailer in Santa Fr and other IED devices at one gun safe at home in Alvin, plus shrapnel from a detonated device in a cabinet at home in Alvin.
- Dimitrios told Meadows he took two shotguns from a cabinet, sawed off barrels, but worried they wouldn’t work properly because semi-auto.
- He talked about getting a speed loader for the .38-caliber handgun.
- Dimitrios also talked about getting a third shotgun and sawing off barrel, that one was pump action.
- A video statement of Dimitrios was played in court, where he talked about making some bombs in the garage and at the trailer.
- Meadows asked Dimitrios about the bombs, whether they were live and would hurt officers who will search the home and trailer. Dimitrios stated that the pressure cooker wouldn’t go off but that he left the bell schedule from high school at trailer.
- When Meadows asked Dimitrios why he did this, he said he started having homicidal thoughts in 8th grade and tried to do various things to get someone to notice he was having these thoughts. He said he began acting out, wearing different clothes, journaling his thoughts, drinking and driving, started having ideas about mass shooting, referenced Las Vegas shooting as type of thoughts he was having.
- He said Dimitrios told police he wrote ideas down in journals.
- From the writings, Dimitrios stated that he was tired of being treated as a second-class citizen, treated like an animal and playing with fire.
- Dimitrios also wrote that no one cared about him and was treated like sh**.
- In more of Dimitrios writing, he stated, “I gave you people so long to redeem yourself, I’m tired of trying to love a world that doesn’t love me.”
- Dimitrios even told his father that he was an a**hole and when he went to his mother for help -- she “beat the sh** out of me.”
- Meadows said Dimitrios told him that he was failing all of his classes and that he missed so much school that he couldn’t make it up.
- Dimitrios told Meadows he did things to hopefully get people’s attention, wearing combat boots, trench coat and wanted to be perceived as dangerous.
- Dimitrios in video statement: “I was trying to get people to notice me, I was cutting myself.”
1:52 p.m. -- Judge says these exhibits will be sealed at conclusion of civil trial
1:51 p.m. -- Civil trial enters into evidence portions of video taped statement made by Dimitris while at the Santa Fe Police Department
1:35 p.m. -- Phillip Meadows, the retired Santa Fe City police captain at time of shooting, takes stand as witness
- Meadows said he interviewed Dimitrios the day of the shooting.
- The plantiff’s attorney said they will talk about admission, weapons and motive.
- Meadows said his daughter, who attended Santa Fe High School, called him saying someone in the school was shooting.
- He said he told his daughter to run and called dispatcher and headed to the high school.
- Meadows saw other officers in the common area and heard noises in a hallway, yelling, screaming, a fire alarm ... and followed those noises.
- That’s when Meadows said he encountered other officers stationed in the hallway.
- He said Dimitrios was in custody and brought to him by another officer.
- “Texas City police officer brought him to me, as we were lifting him up, Dimitrios said, “Are you going to take me outside and kill me?” I said, “No, we are not.”
- He said he took Dimitrios to another officer’s car and get got in the backseat with him and left the school.
- Meadows admitted that he was concerned someone would attack Dimitrios -- so he took precautions while transporting him.
- He said he took Dimitrios to the police department, went into booking area, started photographing him to document his clothing, any injuries and any possible evidence.
- Meadows then took Dimitrios into an interview with Constable Jimmy Fullen, read him his rights, and video taped the interview.
1:34 p.m. -- Jury brought back into courtroom
11:40 a.m. -- Jury brought back to court
- Judge said he needs more time to hash out pending legal issues regarding next witness and will be in recess until 1 p.m.
11:03 a.m. -- Judge calls 20 minute recess to discuss legal issues, did not get specific what those issues are
10:57 a.m. -- John Barnes finishes testimony
10:16 a.m. - Defense continues to question Barnes
- The defense discussed Lucky Gunner, an online ammunition seller, who soled Dimitrios the ammo used in the deadly mass shooting.
- They also spoke about the hundreds of pages of similar searches on the school computer from Dimitrios, such as searching for shotgun parts, knives, tactical vests, speed loaders and sulfuric acid, all individual searches.
- Th defense asked, “should someone at the school paid attention to this?
- Barnes said he was not an IT person, but said he would want to know about this activity.
- He stated that if those searches had been brought to the assistance chief’s attention -- he would have been notified.
- The defense asked if Barnes was shot by a handgun and Barnes confirmed that it was a 12-gage shotgun.
- The plaintiff attorney then asked, “whose job is it to nurture a child?”
- Barnes responded, “Parents.”
- Attorney Clint McGuire showed Barnes items purchased by Dimitrios and sent home since December 2017; stun guns, quick loader, tactical gear, bear spray, knives. There were 29 separate purchases and sent to his home, including ammo.
- McGuire asked, “Should that concern a parent?”
- Barnes responded, “Yes.”
- Defense Attorney Lori Laird asked if the parents are responsible for children and Barnes responded, yes.
- Barnes was asked if the school was responsible too when this was done on campus, he also said, yes.
- Barnes responded, “Certainly the volume of searches, I’m not sure why we weren’t notified of that.”
10: 15 a.m. - Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady is now monitoring testimony and taking notes due to potential impact on criminal case.
10:05 a.m. - Trial resumes and John Barnes, a retired police officer for Santa Fe ISD, who was the first to confront gunman and critically wounded
- The defense team showed Barnes information that was obtained from a data extracted from the Santa Fe High School’s computer.
- The defense also asked about the Columbine school shooting photos be search on a school computer, asking if that should have triggered an alert.
- Barnes asked: “Yes.”
- The defense asked again if the search of the Columbine suicide by Dimitrios should have triggered a flag, Barnes responded, “Yes.”
- The defense asked was the search of the Virginia Tech shooting was concerning? Barnes said, “Yes.”
- The defense asked if it was concerning that semi automatic was sawed off the shotgun by Dimitrios? Barnes said, “Yes.”
- Barnes was asked if there was a difference between ammo caliber, and he asked that it was less concerning,
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.
