Gunman kills 10 people at Texas high school, governor says

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• Investigators have discovered a range of explosive devices
• Authorities interviewing 'one or two other people of interest,' governor says
• Suspect used a shotgun and .38-calibre revolver obtained from his father, governor says
• Survivors of Parkland, Fla., school shooting weigh in on social media

A gunman killed 10 people and wounded 10 others at a Houston-area high school on Friday morning, the state's governor has confirmed.

"We mourn with them, we mourn as fellow Texans. But we must come together as one community," Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

A suspect was taken into custody. He has been identified as 17-year-old student Dimitrios Pagourtzis and charged with capital murder, according to Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset. 

Two firearms were used in the attack, the governor said..

"One was a shotgun and the other is a .38 revolver. Neither of these weapons were owned or legally possessed by the shooter. It's my information that both of these weapons were obtained by the shooter from his father," Abbott said.

Investigators are interviewing "one or two other people of interest," Abbott said.

An unknown number of possible explosive devices were found at the school and off campus. Authorities were in the process of rendering them safe and asked the public to call 911 if they see anything suspicious.

It marks the deadliest school shooting in the country since the February attack in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people and re-energized the gun-control movement after surviving teens launched a campaign for reform.

The governor said investigators also found explosive devices, including a Molotov cocktail, in the school and nearby.  Abbott said the suspect told authorities after his arrest that he had intended to kill himself too, but that he lacked the courage.

Pagourtzis has been described as quiet and unassuming — an avid videogame player who routinely wore a black trench coat and black boots to class. 

Abbott said that "unlike Parkland, unlike Sutherland Springs, there were not those types of warning signs." He was referring to the Feb. 14 school shooting in Florida and one in November inside a church in a town near San Antonio.

Abbott said "the red-flag warnings were either non-existent, or very imperceptible" in this case. 

Officer wounded

A school police officer was being treated at a hospital, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.

Walter Braun, the police chief of Santa Fe Independent School District, said the officer was wounded by gunfire.

"We hope the worst is over, and I really can't say any more about that because it would be pure speculation," assistant principal Cris Richardson told reporters at the scene.

President Donald Trump expressed "sadness and heartbreak" over the shooting, and said federal officials were co-ordinating with local officials.

"My administration is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools and to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to  themselves and to others," he said, speaking at the White House.

Santa Fe is a city with a population of about 13,000 and is 48 kilometres southeast of Houston.

School officials said law enforcement officers were working to secure the building "and initiate all emergency management protocols to release and move students to another location."

Students from the high school were being transported to another location to reunite with their parents.

'Start running'

One student told Houston television station KTRK in a telephone interview that someone with a gun came into her first-period art class and started shooting. The student said she saw one girl with blood on her leg as the class left the room.

"We thought it was a fire drill at first, but really the teacher said, 'Start running,"' the student told the television station.

The student said she didn't get a good look at the shooter, because she was running away. She said some students escaped through a door at the back of the classroom.

Authorities have not yet confirmed that report. Aerial footage from the scene showed students standing in a grassy field and three life-flight helicopters landing at the school.

Michael Farina, 17, said he was on the other side of campus when the shooting began and thought it was a fire drill. He was holding a door open for special education students in wheelchairs when a principal came bounding down the hall and telling everyone to run. Another teacher yelled out, "It is real."

Students were led to take cover behind a car shop across the street from the school. Some still did not feel safe and began jumping the fence behind the shop to run even farther away, Farina said.

Gun-control debate resurfaces

The shooting was all but certain to reignite the national debate over gun regulations. While cable news channels carried hours of live coverage, survivors of the Feb. 14 attack in Parkland took to social media to express grief and outrage.

"It's an all too familiar feeling no one should have to experience. I am so sorry this epidemic touched your town — Parkland will stand with you now and forever," Jaclyn Corin, a student at the Florida school, said in a tweet.

She also directed her frustration at Trump, writing: "This is the 22nd school shooting just this year. DO SOMETHING."

Texas has some of the most permissive gun laws in the U.S. and just hosted the NRA's annual conference earlier this month. In the run-up to March primaries, gun control was not a main issue with candidates of either party. Republicans did not soften their views on guns, and Democrats campaigned on a range of issues instead of zeroing in on gun violence.