BLOG Day 6: Parents of student killed in 2018 shooting testify in civil trial against parents of Santa Fe HS shooter

HOUSTON – This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

The parents of Sabika Sheikh testified remotely Monday morning 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.

Sheikh, who was killed during the mass shooting, was a foreign exchange student and her parents reside in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

RELATED: Galveston County DA can’t authenticate Santa Fe HS computer was used by gunman to research school shootings

The defense and plaintiff attorneys and translators logged in on different computers to ask questions. A wireless speaker was placed on the judge’s bench to hear answers.

Farah Naz, the mother of Sabika, was the first witness to testify Monday followed by Sabika’s father, Abdul Azuz.

Rice Flo, the substitute teacher who was critically injured in the shooting, and student Trenton Beazley, who was also shot, both testified.

This civil trial 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:

5:19 p.m. -- Judge adjourns court for the day. Beazley will be back Tuesday to continue testimony

5:07 p.m. -- Attorney pass witness to defense

4:11 p.m. -- Trenton Beazley, student who survived 2018 shooting, testifies

• Beazley said he was in art room 2 on May 18, 2018.
• He said he only saw Dimitrios a couple of times walking around school, describing that he always wore a black duster and didn’t think much of it.
• In art class, about 10-15 minutes before the first shows were fired, Beaszley said, “I hear one loud bang, stood up, followed by two separate shots, kids started running to back door but it was locked.”
• Beazley: “I jumped over a table and then we got into the kiln room. Hunter and I started instructing kids to get into the closet. Patio door in art room 1 was unlocked, started telling kids to go to that door to escape. I was focused on getting kids out of art room 2 into art room 1 and out patio door.”
• Beazley: “Then heard two shots, I looked over and saw Dimitrios reloading a shotgun. It was more fear than I could imagine.”
• Beazley: “Hunter and I started trying to barricade door as Dimitrios was running toward us firing shots, trying to push kiln against the door. Dimitrios was able to stick barrel between door and door jamb. I was hit in the back, along with Sarah Salazar and Kyle McLeod.”
• Beazley said he heard Dimitrios yelling, “Surprise, m***** F*****.”
• After getting hit, Beazley and Hunter were able to push kiln against door. They then heard pistol shots and thought there were two shooters.
• “I thought I was going to die that day.”
• Beazley: “10 students ran out of art room 1 before majority of shots, eight left and by time police got us, only six alive.”
• Beazley: “I wasn’t expecting to get out that day. We heard Chris Stone take his last breaths.”
• He said Dimitrios was taunting us, singling, “Another Bites the Dust.”
• Beazley: “Cellphones were ringing, and he was taunting ‘do you want to come answer this? Oh, you can’t, you’re dead.’ That’s when I knew this wasn’t a regular kid, he knew what he was doing.”
• He said he heard Officer Barnes yelling for him to come out then heard the shots that hit Officer Barnes and then heard, “officer down.”
• Beazley: “A student was on the phone with police telling them where we were. Sarah Salazar then grabs me, she was in and out of consciousness, I saw blood was coming out of her arm, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her to stop the bleeding.”
• Beazley: “I thought this kid is here to do it, he’s not here just to be in and out, he’s in it for the long run.”
• Beazley: “We could hear the cops yelling to come out, he’s yelling back at them. Dimitrios says he needs a bullhorn because he can’t hear them. Two to three minutes later, Dimitrios surrendered. We could hear the radio chatter, the squeaking of bots on the floor and the clink-clink of the cuffs.”
• Beazley: “I still kept thinking there were two shooters, police were yelling out for people to come out, some students tried to get up and I said, “No, we don’t know if it really is cops, then I saw softball size hole in the door and I saw a badge.”
• Beazley said as officers were leading them out, they saw bodies and officers checked students for injuries.
• He said an officer asked if he was OK, he said “He thought he was shot” and an officer ripped off his shirt and then called for a medic saying he had been shot.
• Beazley said he was taken to a field house, coaches letting them make calls to parents and FBI agents came in and started asking questions.
• He said the first four weeks after the shooting were a blur, followed up with a doctor.
• Beazley said he only got two to three hours of sleep a day, lived in pure fear, terror and slept on a couch because he was terrified of being along.
• He said he got an air mattress so he could sleep on the floor with his parents because he didn’t want to be alone.
• Beazley said he was formally diagnosed with PTSD and depression.
• In April 2020, he said he started having seizures but they stopped about 7 months ago.
• Doctors told him that the seizures were due to PTSD, stress induced.
• Beazley: “The source of my stress is countless nights of no sleep because I am terrified of seeing those images, can’t go into crowds, can’t go to restaurants, lash out at my parents and I’m upset with myself for doing that. Having heightened nightmares, anxiety leading up to trial.”
• When the attorney asked, ”Who do you blame?”
• Beazley responded, “Definitely Dimitrios.”
• When Beazley was asked about Dimitiros’ journals, online searches, “Could you have hidden that from your parents?”
• Beazley: “Absolutely not.”

4:10 p.m. -- Testimony resumes

3:39 p.m. Rice testimony concludes. Court takes break until 3:50 p.m.

3:38 p.m. -- Plaintiff’s attorney, Clint McGuire, begins questioning again

• McGuire: “After shooting and killing 10 people and wounding 13 others, was he sane enough to not want to die?”
• Rice: “Yes.”

3:33 p.m. -- Torres questioning again

• Torres read Dimitrios journals and about him writing about supernatural beings watching over him, maybe aliens, elder Gods, Satan.
• Torres: “Would you agree someone writing this is delusional?”
• Rice: “No. I see someone intelligent and creative.”
• Torres: “You don’t think Satan was directing his actions do you?”
• Rice: “I don’t know what he’s getting at?”
• Torres: “What is easier to believe, Satan, elder Gods of space aliens were telling him what to do or that he was delusional?”
• Rice: “I don’t believe either.”

3:28 p.m. -- Attorney Todd finishes and defense attorney Lori Laird questions Rice again

• Laird: “Do you know if his parents were ever notified of any problems?”
• Rice: “No.”
• Laird: “Do you know of any law that requires parents to lock up guns if their child is 17?”
• Rice: “I don’t.”
• Rice: “I don’t believe he was insane.”
• Laird: “Then why would his parents have to lock anything up?”
• Rice: “Having mental illness doesn’t mean you’re insane.”

3:27 p.m. -- Attorney Alton Todd questions Flo Rice

• Todd asks Rice about online searches done by Dimitrios, researching, planning a mass shooting.
• Todd: “Do you know if those searches were done at home or at school?”
• Rice: “No, I don’t.”

3:25 p.m. -- Plaintiff’s attorney, Clint McGuire, begins questioning

• McGuire reads portion of Dimitrios Pagourtzis’ journals and asks if Rice sees any reference to a Demi God or Satan telling him what to do.
• Rice says “No.”

3:34 p.m. -- Dimitrios Pagourtzis’ defense attorney, Roberto Torres finishes

3:06 p.m. -- Dimitrios Pagourtzis’ defense attorney, Roberto Torres, now questioning Flo Rice

• Rice said she’s been working at Santa Fe High School since 2015.
• She said the district did not have a policy to bring substitute teachers up to speed on active shooter protocols.
• Torres: “Was Dimitrios Pagourtzis using school computer for reasons other than school work?”
• Rice: “Not aware.”
• Torres: “Aware of any referral by school officials to law enforcement about improper computer searches?”
• Rice: “No.”

2:37 p.m. -- Prosecution finishes, passes to defense attorney Lori Laird

• Rice said she’s been advocating for extra school safety features and new laws.
• She said she taught at Santa Fe High School as a substitute teacher many times.
• “Substitute teachers are not allowed to address dress code violations with students, it wasn’t part of responsibly to report unless was in her classroom,” Rice said to Laird when asked.
• Laird: “Did the school district provide any safety training?”
• Rice: “No.”
• Rice went on to say that she didn’t realize there was a shooting until she saw there were holes in her legs.
• She said she was aware another teacher tried to call the front office and then 911, but couldn’t get an outside line.
• Rice said she later learned that school administration knew the shooter was violating dress code but did nothing to stop it.
• Rice said the police at first thought she was dead but when her husband arrived, he made officers aware that she was still alive and calling him.
• Laird: “Was the shooter enabled by Lucky Gunner?”
• Rice: “I believe they contributed.”
• Laird: “Do you believe mental illness played a role?”
• Rice: “Yes. I believe someone with mental illness can still be competent.”
• Laird: “If a professional says he was incompetent, that would mitigate his actions, would you agree?”
• Rice: “I wouldn’t agree with that, I can’t comprehend he was incompetent, he researched and planned the shooting.”
• She said she believed there were red flags, such as failing in school and not going to class.
• Laird: “Can you point to any law that would say what the parents did was insufficient when it came to locking guns in cabinet?”
• Rice: “Not a law.”

1:52 p.m. -- Testimony begins for Flo Rice, the substitute teacher who was critically wounded the day of the mass shooting

• Plaintiff’s attorney, Clint McGuire, said they are going to discuss the shooting, response and injuries.
• Prior to the shooting, Rice said she was a distance runner and ran in marathons. She said she also enjoyed hiking.
• She became a substitute teacher and loved children. In 2018, she even won Substitute Teacher of the Year.
• On the day of May 18, 2018, Rice said went to the office to get her schedule and headed toward the gym for first class, basketball.
• She said she stopped to speak with Glenda Ann Perkins, the popular substitute teacher who was killed at the school.
• Rice and Perkins were in the gym, which as very loud.
• She said they heard the fire alarm go off 15 minutes into class and stated that she was surprised because there was a fire drill a week before.
• Rice got the students together and began leaving the gym. She said Ann was in front of her with her students, then heard an incredibly loud sound followed by a flash.
• Rice said she thought it was a bomb and felt everything shaking.
• She thought she needed to take another couple of steps to get to exit but heard another loud boom and fell down.
• Rice’s face hit the ground first as she fell through the exit door.
• When she looked up, she said she saw Ann Perkins laying on the sidewalk.
• When Rice tried to get up and couldn’t, she sat up and realized her left foot was completely twisted and broken -- that’s when she saw bloody bullet holes in both legs.
• Rice said it was more terrifying than bombs because, “I realized someone was hunting me like an animal.”
• She said she was worried the gunman would come through the exit door and shoot again, so she started crawling and grabbed her phone out of her purse.
• Rice laid very still -- hoping if the gunman came through the door, he would think she was dead.
• She said she tried calling her husband, Scot and said she’s been shot. Then she hung up because she was afraid the shooter would see her.
• Rice started to pray and saw glass flying from gunshots shattering the windows.
• She said she could smell gun powder and heard more gunshots.
• Rice continue to lay there -- closing her eyes as she heard an officer running and heard him say on radio, “no eyes on shooter.”
• She prayed that she didn’t die because her mother died when she was young and didn’t want that to happen to her daughters.
• Rice heard her husband’s car, and called him to say he’s close and heard him yelling, “That’s my wife!” She then felt the officer touch her and pick her up and carried her to her husband’s car.
• Rice’s husband drive her to a hospital and saw hundreds of first responders heading to the school.
• Rice said she didn’t remember having the shooter in any of her classes or recall ever speaking to him.
• Rice asked the jury to hold the shooter accountable for what happened “because he did it intentionally.”
• She also said to hold Lucky Gunner, the online store that sold ammo to the shooter, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, because he was able to buy ammo even though he was under age.
• McGuire asked, “Do you believe Lucky Gunner shares in responsibility for what happened?”
• Rice: “Yes.”
• McGuire: “Do you feel shooter’s parents share responsibility what happened?”
• Rice: “Yes, he didn’t get mental health support and they didn’t secure their weapons.”
• McGuire: “Do you believe Santa Fe ISD shares responsibility?”
• Rice: “Yes, they allowed him to dress like a Columbine shooter and didn’t stop him.”
• Rice said she does not want this to happen to anyone else and only spoke up to bring change.
• She suffered a broken femur, nerve damage in her hips and legs from being shot 12 times.
• Since then, Rice has had multiple surgeries, physical therapy three times a week. She had to learn how to walk again and has been taking physical therapy for two years.
• Rice had to use a wheelchair and walker for six months.
• After about a year, Rice said she could walk with the help of a cane and finally stopped needing a cane after about a year ago.
• Rice said she still suffers from nerve damage, random shooting pain at the top of her right leg and numbing.
• She also has PTSD, which has been challenging.
• “I am not the same person I was before. Can’t tolerate loud noises, or busy places, crowds, always looking for exits, can’t have back to the door, memory issues,” she said.
• Rice: “During holidays with fireworks, I have to stay inside my closet because it muffles the sound. The brain never stops telling you, you are in danger, it’s exhausting, it’s torturous.”
• Rice: “There is an image in my mind, I am always on that sidewalk with bloody holes in my legs and Ann lying behind me. That’s always in my head.”
• Rice: “I can’t cook a meal for my family like I did because there are too many things to remember, I get overwhelmed.”

1:48 p.m. -- Flo Rice, the substitute teacher who was critically wounded the day of the mass shooting, takes stand

1:48 p.m. -- Court resumes

1:36 p.m. -- Court breaks for lunch and expected to resume at 1:40 p.m.

12:35 p.m. -- Defense counsel has no questions and Azuz testimony ends

11:50 a.m. -- Court resumes, Abdul Azuz, Sabika’s father now testifying remotely, from Saudi Arabia

• Azuz said he was at home when he first heard about shooting.
• He stated word about the shooting traveled throughout Pakistan, so he switched to CNN and saw pictures of the school.
• Azuz said pictures matched the photos of the school they found online, while researching the location before his daughter left to the U.S.
• He stated that he tried calling Sabika and that she always answered when they called or would send a message that she would call right back.
• But Sabika never answered. Azuz said he called several times and they were just praying. He never thought this could happen.
• “I tried calling Sabika’s friend, no answer,” he said.
• He then tried calling her friend’s father.
• Then, at 10:33 p.m., Pakistan time -- he was told Sabika is “no more, these words are still in my mind.”
• “My wife and children figured out from my facial expressions that something happened, I then called other family and told them to come to our house, I need to talk to them,” he stated.
• He said the local community and consulate office helped bring Sabika home five days after the shooting.
• Azuz: “The President, Prime Minister and Army Guard of Honor was there when Sabika was buried.”
• He said he spoke with his daughter the day before the shooting. She had called when the family was breaking fast for Ramadan and wanted to know what dishes they were having.
• Azuz stated that Sabika specifically called during this time so she could share the moment with family.
• He said she was excited about coming home and was looking forward to eating Biryani.
• “Sabika wanted to be a foreign officer and travel the world representing Pakistan,” he said.
• He said the process to study abroad took about a year, out of 7,000 applicants, only 72 were chose.
• Azuz said Sabika was very excited, but stated that he and her mother were worried. He said they couldn’t tell her no.
• “August 2017 is the last time I hugged Sabika,” he stated.
• Azuz said she loved bring with her friends and studies. She liked poetry and art.
• He described her as being close to her siblings. When it came to her studies, she was a role model for her siblings.
• “Every single moment I miss Sabika, she was my first child,” Azuz said.
• “When I came home from work, I would gather my daughters and call them princess. Sabika would run up to me and hug me and say ‘Thank you Baba.’ I wish I could do that one more time,” he said.

11:24 a.m. -- Court in recess for 15 minutes

11:21 a.m. -- Farah Naz, the mother of Sheikh, ends testimony

• Naz thanked everyone the opportunity to share her feelings and talk about her daughter.

11:20 a.m. -- No questions from defense counsel

10:23 a.m. -- Plaintiff’s attorney, Jed Miller, begins questioning Naz

• Naz said Sabika was super-intelligent, she loved to study, she loved reading, she liked badminton. She said her daughter liked math and creative writing. Thar Sabika wanted to be a diplomat and represent Pakistan.
• She said Sabika was 17 years old, the oldest child of her two siblings.
• Naz said her daughter had a great relationship with her younger siblings and very close to her younger sister.
• She said she wanted Sabika to achieve what she wanted to do in her life and was one of the top students in her class.
• Sabika was born and raised in Pakistan. She was apart of a youth exchange program.
• Naz recalled her daughter applying for the program and came to the United States for 10 months to learn about the U.S.
• Sabika’s father had a U.S. Visa -- so family felt he could visit if she had trouble in the U.S.
• She said her family was happy when Sabika was accepted into the exchange program.
• Naz admitted that she was worried at first about her going to the U.S., but felt better after talking with the host family.
• She said this was the first time Sabika had ever traveled to the United States.
• Naz stated that she was not sure why her daughter wanted to study in the U.S., but just wanted experience.
• Sabika left her home county in August of 2017.
• She said it was the last time she saw her daughter.
• Before the deadly shooting, Sabika was only 19 days away from returning home.
• Naz said Sabika’s original host family had to be hospitalized and that she moved to a new host family after a friend she made at school talked to her parents.
• After returning home, Sabika was planning to go to college and even had gifts for her family when she returned home, her mother stated.
• Naz said she first heard about the shooting when she saw the news on CNN about a school shooting inn Texas. She said she tried to call Sabika, but no answer.
• Naz stated that when her daughter did not answer or send a message, they were hoping they wouldn’t get any bad news.
• They then call the host family and when they answered, they said they were going to the hospital.
• Naz said after an hour and a half, they were told that Sabika was dead.
• The news had spread all over Pakistan and neighbors came to their home to comfort.
• Naz said her daughter’s body was brought home the following Wednesday.
• Since her daughter’s death, Naz said she has no interest in life, “I no longer have dreams for my children, I live in constant fear every time my children leave the house.”
• Naz said Sabika’s younger sister lost all interest in her studies and cries all the time.
• She said her daughter’s death has created a void in all their lives.
• “She was my oldest child, she was my friend, she had a lot of dreams, not a day passes I don’t miss her. Whenever I think about my other children’s dreams I just think about her,” Naz said.

10:22 a.m. -- Testimony of Farah Naz starts

10:21 a.m. -- The jury has been seated

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.