Like some of her classmates, senior Brooke Williams had mixed emotions about returning Tuesday to classes at Santa Fe High School, where a student fatally shot 10 people in the nation's deadliest school attack since the massacre in Parkland, Florida.
Santa Fe High School supporters gather by the school to wish student and staff well on their first day of classes after a shooting that killed 10 people. Tuesday, May 29, 2018 in Santa Fe. ( Marie D. De Jesus / Houston Chronicle)
"I'm not excited to go back to school. I'm actually pretty scared to, but I feel like that's the reason why I need to go back. I don't want to be scared of this the rest of my life," Williams said.
Less than two weeks after the shooting, students at the school near Houston were greeted by more than 20 law enforcement vehicles and supporters holding signs saying "Santa Fe Strong" and "United We Stand."
Students who had classes in the area of the shooting were the first allowed back in, followed by the rest about two hours later. The teens lined up in front of the school's main entrance, which was the only approved entrance. They were not allowed to carry backpacks or large purses and were required to show an ID before entering.
All students then gathered for a two-hour assembly honoring the victims, and counselors were available for anyone who needed to talk about the May 18 slayings of eight students and two substitute teachers.
Andi Lewis, director of the Kingwood High School Fillies dance team brought team members to Santa Fe in support of Santa Fe High School students who were returning to the school for their first day of classes after a shooting that killed 10 people. Tuesday, May 29, 2018 in Santa Fe. ( Marie D. De Jesus / Houston Chronicle)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott visited the campus Tuesday, speaking with students, parents, teachers and staff privately and presenting first responders with an award for their actions.
Hailey Hubbard, another senior, was returning for her final week of high school.
"Honestly, I just want to go back so I can see my friends and not spend my last three days of senior year just being secluded in a room," Hubbard said. She said she did not want the shooting to be her last memory of high school.
Hubbard said some of her friends were more ambivalent about returning to campus and that she had to help calm down a friend who suffered a panic attack at the thought of going back to school.
She hopes returning to campus will also give her mother peace of mind because "she's terrified of me going to school." The teen had wanted to go to campus on the school bus that she normally takes. But her mother said no because there's no security on the bus.
Santa Fe High School students return to school, Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 11 days after a shooter killed 10 people, in Sata Fe, Texas. (Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via AP
Sheila Hubbard wasn't reassured by the extra security at the school and planned to stay on campus all day Tuesday to make sure her daughter and son Nathan, also a senior, were both safe.
"I think them going back is best. It doesn't make it easier for the parents ... We're all scared our kids are going to come to harm," the elder Hubbard, a 40-year-old nurse, said as she stood outside her home just before driving her kids to school.
Williams said some other seniors she spoke with won't return to campus and plan to show up only for graduation on Friday "because they're so terrified."
She wanted to return to class in part so the shooting would not be her defining memory of her school.
"I hope by the end of the day today I'll be able to look at the school and not cry, not feel hate ... not think of it in grief ... and also to find comfort in the people who are still here," she said.
Authorities have charged Dimitrios Pagourtzis with capital murder in the attack. He's accused of using a shotgun and pistol that belonged to his father. The 17-year-old remained jailed without bond in Galveston.
Also Tuesday, the hospital treating a school police officer who was badly wounded in the attack announced that his condition had been upgraded from critical to serious.
Officer John Barnes was shot in the arm when he confronted the gunman. A bullet damaged the bone and a major blood vessel around his elbow. He remains in the intensive care unit.
Abbott planned to announce a school-safety plan on Wednesday after holding three days of meetings last week following the shooting.
NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — The trial of a southern Arizona rancher charged with fatally shooting an unarmed migrant on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border went to the jury Thursday.
Jurors did not immediately reach a verdict and will resume deliberations Friday morning.
In closing arguments earlier Thursday, lawyers debated the actions of 75-year-old George Alan Kelly, who is accused of second-degree murder in the January 30, 2023, shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea.
Cuen-Buitimea, 48, lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. Court records show Cuen-Buitimea had previously entered the U.S. illegally several times and was deported, most recently in 2016
The case has attracted national attention as border security continues to be a top issue this election year and garnered sympathy for the rancher from some on the political right.
Cuen-Buitimea was in a group of men that Kelly encountered on his property. Prosecutor Mike Jette said Kelly recklessly fired an AK-47 rifle toward the group that was about 100 yards (90 meters) away.
Kelly said he fired warning shots in the air, but he didn’t shoot directly at anyone, explaining that he feared for his safety and that of his wife and property.
“He says he shot 100 yards over their heads. But he never told law enforcement that he was in fear of his life," Jette said in closing arguments.
Kelly fired nine shots toward the group, according to Jette, who said Cuen-Buitimea suffered three broken ribs and a severed aorta.
Jette encouraged jurors to find Kelly guilty of reckless manslaughter or negligent homicide if they can’t convict him on the murder charge.
Defense attorney Brenna Larkin, in her closing argument, said Kelly “was in a life or death situation” that was “a terrifying scenario” for him.
“He was confronted with a threat right outside his home,” Larkin said. “He would have been absolutely justified to use deadly force, but he did not."
She urged jurors to return a “not guilty” verdict, saying the state didn't prove its case.
The other migrants on Kelly's ranch in 2023 weren’t injured and managed to escape back to Mexico.
Larkin has characterized groups of migrants crossing through Kelly’s property as an increasing concern over the years, prompting him to arm himself for protection.
The trial that started March 22 included jurors visiting Kelly’s nearly 170-acre (69-hectare) cattle ranch in Nogales, Arizona.
Earlier in proceedings, Kelly rejected an agreement with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to one count of negligent homicide if he pleaded guilty.
Kelly was also charged with aggravated assault against another person in the group of about eight people, including a man from Honduras who was living in Mexico and who testified during the trial that he was seeking work in the U.S. that day.
This story has been corrected to show that Kelly fired nine shots toward a group that included Cuen-Buitimea, according to the prosecution, not that Cuen-Buitimea was shot nine times.
County Attorney Michael Jette addresses jurors during closing arguments in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, Thursday, April 18, 2024 in Nogales, Ariz. Rancher George Alan Kelly accused of second-degree murder in the January 2023 death of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, who lived south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP, Pool)
George Alan Kelly listens to closing arguments in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, Thursday, April 18, 2024 in Nogales, Ariz. Kelly was charged with second-degree murder in the January 2023 death of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, who lived south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP, Pool)
FILE - George Alan Kelly enters court for his preliminary hearing in Nogales Justice Court in Nogales, Ariz., Feb. 22, 2023. Jurors on the case of Arizona rancher Kelly charged with fatally shooting a migrant on his property will be allowed to visit the property near the border with Mexico as early as this week as the trial enters its second half. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - George Alan Kelly exits the Santa Cruz County Courthouse with defense attorney Kathy Lowthorp after the first day of his trial in Santa Cruz County Superior Court Friday, March 22, 2024 in Nogales, Ariz. Jurors in the case of the Arizona rancher Kelly charged with fatally shooting a migrant on his property visited the scene of the killing as the third week of the trial wrapped up. The jurors on Thursday, April 11, 2024, viewed various locations at Kelly's ranch, as well as a section of the U.S.-Mexico border. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP, File)
