2018 Santa Fe High School shooting

On the morning of May 18, 2018, a shooting occurred at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, in the Houston metropolitan area. Ten people—eight students and two teachers—were fatally shot, and thirteen others were wounded. The gunman began firing into an art classroom at 7:32 a.m. CDT in the school's art complex. Witnesses reported the shooter moved between connected classrooms, and students attempted to barricade themselves in a storage closet before the shooter fired through the door. A staff member pulled the fire alarm, prompting most of the school to evacuate. Santa Fe ISD police officers exchanged fire with the shooter; one officer was wounded and hospitalized in critical condition. The shooter was engaged by another school officer and a Texas Highway Patrol trooper, and surrendered after being injured. Officers reportedly confronted him within four minutes of the shooting beginning, and the incident lasted about 25 minutes in total.

The suspect, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old junior at the school, was identified and taken into custody. He told police he had intended to kill classmates he disliked while sparing those he liked, so that he could "have his story told." Investigators found that he used a shotgun and a revolver that had reportedly been legally owned by his father, along with various explosive devices found on and off campus. Pagourtzis was charged with capital murder of multiple people and aggravated assault against a public servant, and held without bail. Because he was a minor at the time of the shooting, he was ineligible for the death penalty or life without parole, and was also later charged with eleven federal crimes that cannot be disclosed due to his age. In November 2019, he was found unfit to stand trial by three experts and has since been repeatedly re-evaluated and recommitted to mental health treatment, remaining incompetent to stand trial as of the most recent reported evaluation.

Separately, families of victims Chris Stone and Aaron McLeod filed a civil lawsuit against Pagourtzis's parents, alleging negligent storage of firearms and failure to seek mental health treatment for their son. In August 2024, a civil jury found Pagourtzis and ammunition seller Lucky Gunner liable for the deaths, but found his parents not liable. Because Pagourtzis remains incompetent to stand trial and the claims against the ammunition company were settled out of court, the families are not expected to receive further compensation from either liable party.

The shooting prompted vigils, memorials, and fundraising efforts in the Santa Fe community, as well as national political reactions from officials including then-President Donald Trump, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The Texas Legislature later allocated funding toward youth mental health care partly in response to the shooting.