Civil case: Parents of Santa Fe High School shooter found not liable

The parents of a former student who killed ten people and injured several others when he opened fire at Santa Fe High School in Texas in 2018 are not responsible for their son's actions, a jury ruled Monday.

Survivors and family members of the shooting victims accused the parents, Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos, during the three-week civil trial of failing to store their weapons properly and ignoring signs that he was about to commit a violent act. The jury instead found Dimitrios Pagourtzis and Lucky Gunner, an online retailer from which the gunman purchased the ammunition used in the shooting, liable and awarded them $330 million in damages.

Jake Felde, CEO of Lucky Gunner, said in a statement that his company was “not responsible for paying any damages awarded by the jury” because it had already reached a separate settlement last year and was not a party to the Texas lawsuit.

On the morning of May 18, 2018, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, killed eight students and two teachers and injured 13 others, according to authorities. Pagourtzis was charged with capital crimes but found incompetent to stand trial. He was also a defendant in the civil case but did not appear in court.

The civil case comes at a critical time as the country grapples with gun violence, with more parents and other adults being held accountable for missing the warning signs in their children and students that led to mass shootings.

In Virginia, an assistant principal was charged with child abuse for failing to intervene when a six-year-old boy shot and killed his first-grade teacher. In Michigan, a couple was sentenced to 10 years in prison for failing to stop their 15-year-old son from gunning down four high school classmates.

And in Illinois, a father pleaded guilty to negligent misconduct after his son killed seven people at a Fourth of July Independence Day parade.

Lawsuit claims shooter's parents acted negligently

The lawsuit, filed in 2018, was brought by the families of the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting and sought more than $1 million in damages. The families claimed in the suit that the shooter's parents “knew their son was in danger of harming himself or others, but nevertheless irresponsibly and negligently stored their firearms so their son could access them,” according to court documents seen by USA TODAY.

According to the lawsuit, the shooter showed warning signs and had violent fantasies leading up to the shooting. He was fascinated by the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, intentionally dressed like the Columbine shooters, and posted pictures of guns and other weapons on his social media.

His parents, the lawsuit says, knew something was wrong with their son, but still stored their weapons carelessly. The teenager showed signs of depression and isolated himself, said Clint McGuire, the lawyer for the victims' families, the Associated Press reported.

“Despite the fact that he was trying to give them signs, they did not know that he was depressed, as they claim, because they failed in their role as parents,” McGuire said. Kosmetatos cried at the defense table as McGuire spoke to jurors, AP reported.

Defense attorneys for Antonios Pagourtzis and Kosmetatos said during the trial that their son acted “secretly” when he took the family's weapons from the closet and gun safe without his parents knowing and they had no advance warning of what he was about to do. The defense also placed some of the blame on Lucky Gunner.

“Dimitrios was deeply disturbed. Dimitrios didn't tell anyone. He wasn't aggressive. He didn't throw any tantrums,” defense attorney Lori Laird told jurors, according to Houston Public Media.

The shooter's mother, Kosmetatos, told jurors she wished her son had killed her and not his classmates, ABC 13 News reported.

“He was not raised to do such a thing,” Kosmetatos said. “If I had known that my son had the ability or the knowledge to do such a thing, I would have personally gone before him.”

The lawsuit already named Lucky Gunner as a defendant and claimed the shooter was not required to provide proof of age to purchase the bullets. Lucky Gunner was ultimately denied an appeal to the Texas Supreme Court on the grounds that the company should have immunity under federal law. The case was settled in private last year.

The jury heard testimony from the families of the victims and survivors

During the trial, parents and other family members of those killed in the shooting said they blamed the shooter for the crime and that his parents were responsible for the lack of attention. Survivors of the shooting also testified.

“They're seeing the signs and symptoms of their son. I don't want to say he's deteriorating, but he's not the normal kid he is anymore. I can say if that was my parent, they would be asking are you OK, what's going on, how are you, let's talk,” said Trenton Beazley, a survivor who was 15 at the time of the shooting, according to KHOU.

Sabika Aziz Sheikh was a 17-year-old exchange student from Pakistan who was killed in the shooting. Her mother, Farah Naz, testified in court that she and her family heard about a school shooting in Texas on the news and tried to call her daughter, but she didn't answer. They immediately feared the worst and later learned that she had been killed.

“She was my oldest child, she was my friend, she had a lot of dreams, not a day goes by that I don't miss her. Whenever I think about my other children's dreams, I only think about her,” Naz said, KPRC-TV reported.

Flo Rice, who was working as a substitute teacher on the day of the shooting, was shot six times and survived. She said she had to relearn how to walk after the shooting, KTRK reported.

“I realized that someone was hunting me like an animal,” Rice said of her experiences during the shooting, according to KPRC-TV. “I'm not the same person I was before. I can't stand loud noises, crowded places, crowds, constantly looking for exits, not being able to go back to the door, having memory problems.”

Trial began after Michigan parents were sentenced to prison for shooting their son

Although the Texas parents were not charged with a crime, the trial bears similarities to another case that ended with two Michigan parents each being sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for the shooting death of their son.

Civil case: Parents of Santa Fe High School shooter found not liable

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