Wielding a 38-calibre semiautomatic handgun and shotgun, 17-year-old Santa Fe High School student Dimitrios Pagourtzis massacred at least eight students, one teacher and a school worker 35 miles Southwest of Houston, Texas. Only a little over three months since 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz massacred 17 Feb. 14 at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fl. with an AR-15 assault rifle, prompting mass gun control rallies around the country. Using his father’s 38-calibre semiautomatic handgun, Pagourtzis showed how deadly semiautomatics can be in the wrong hands. When 17-year-old Dylan Klebod and 18-year Eric Harris massacred 15, including killing themselves, at Columbine High School April 20, 1999, it was a feat considered so unspeakable it raised disturbing questions about bullying, mental illness and today’s lax gun control laws.
Columbine opened the nation’s eyes to the disturbances of youth, including the kind of depression and nihilistic behavior sometimes found in certain teen subcultures, playing videogames obsessed with death and violence. While both Harris and Klebold came to Columbine High School April 20, 1999 armed-to-the-teeth with a variety of handguns and assault weapons determined to commit suicide after the mayhem. Pagourtizis wanted to commit suicide but apparently had second thoughts before apprehended by local police. Like Parkland, Fl.’s mass killer Nikolas Cruz, police and social scientists will have plenty of time to study Pagourtzis, including his motives, but, more importantly, whether he was taking prescribed or illicit drugs at the time of the shooting. Psychiatric community looks reluctant to examine whether antidepressant meds contribute to ballistic episodes.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott jumped-the-gun making comparison to Nikolas Cruz. “Unlike Parkland, there were not those types of warnings signs,” referring to Cruz. Pointing to Pagourtzis lack of criminal history, Abbot shows he as clueless as anyone else assessing for violence. “The red-flag warnings were either nonexistent or very imperceptible,” said Abbott. Even Pagourtzis fellow students noted it was odd that the 17-year-old mass shooter war a black trench-coat and army boots to school. When examining Pagourtzis’ Facebook page, it showed a T-shirt reading, “Born to Kill,” including statements about seeking to join the Marine Corps. If Abbott thinks wearing a trench-coat and combat-boots to school isn’t a warning sign, then what is? Pagourtzis’ high school friend, 16-year-old high school junior Tristen Patterson, said played violent video games with Pagourtzis.
Patterson said Pagourtzis talked about guns, not sure whether or not he had them or wanted to get them. “But he never talked about killing people or anything like that,” said Patterson. Whether he talked about killing people or not, the fact that the wore a trench-coat and army boots and talked about guns should have been red-flag enough to notify school officials. “He is a quiet boy,” said Father Stelios Sitaras, a priest at Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Galveston. “You would never think he would do anything,” precisely the same comments made after most mass shooters complete their massacres. Pagourtzis was “acting a little bit down or sad. A little bit sluggish,” said his friend Tristen. No one knows yet whether Pagourtzis was treated for depression with antidepressant medications or other drugs commonly prescribed to teenagers.
Reports of other teen shooters treated with antidepressant meds came out when found Columbine shooters Klebold was on Luvox and Harris on Zoloft, both commonly prescribed antidepressants. While no one says other than Scientology that “psychiatry kills,” drug makers are required to post “Black Box” warning labels prescribing antidepressant medications to teenagers. There’s been enough post-mortem autopsies of teen killers to know they’ve been on antidepressant medications. Whether the meds induce violent or suicidal episodes is anyone’s guess. But what’s know fore sure is that many teen mass shooters have been on antidepressant and other psychotropic medications like Adderall, a stimulant used to treat ADD or Attention Deficit Disorder. While the police scour for a motive, the psychiatric community must come to grips with the unintended effects of psychotropic drugs.
Gov. Abbott insists there were no warnings signs before Pagourtzi’s rampage, something far from the truth. When a loner high-schooler wears a trench coat to school on a regular basis and tells his friends about his love of guns, then what more red-flags do you need? “I’m kind of dumfounded. We didn’t get any warning,” said 17-year-old classmate Michael Farina, admitting that Pagourtzis knew a lot about guns, recalling he a asked him which one should he get when he’s older. Farina saw nothing unusual about Pagourtzis wearing a black trench-coast and combat boots to school. “I guess you could say it was his kind of style,” said Farina. Farina called him a “run-of-the-mill” student, knowing no one dressed in a black trench-coat and combat boots except Dimitrios. Administrators, teachers and students—even governors—need pay better attention to the red-flags, especially Facebook posts.
