Two families who lost children during the Santa Fe shooting are suing, and the language being used in the documents does not hold back.
In an emotional petition to the Galveston County Court of Law, penned before the second family joined the lawsuit, one of the pairs of parents argues that the guardians of Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the 17-year-old suspected school shooter, are guilty of gross negligence.
“Had the murderer not had available to him the weapons for his carnage,” the lawsuit reads, “his hidden black rage might well have continued to simmer within, but, the life’s blood of his teachers and peers … would not have been so horribly, callously and needlessly spilled.”
“The murderer pulled the pistol’s and sawed-off shotgun’s triggers, but also upon them, pressed just as firmly, were the fingers of his parents, who utterly failed to teach their son any respect for life whatsoever and who negligently and grossly negligently failed to secure their weapons in a reasonable and prudent way,” the lawsuit continues.
The document also details the grief caused by the 17-year-old suspect, who is referred to as a “monstrous murderer.”
“As each bullet ripped home,” the lawsuit reads, “gone in an instant were lives not fulfilled, marriages not happening, children not born, the ripple effect of so many good people touching the lives of others stilled forever.”
Aside from arguing that Pagourtzis’ parents failed to secure their weapons, the lawsuit also claims they failed “to obtain mental health counseling” for their child and failed to “properly warn the public” of the teenager’s “dangerous propensities.”
The lawsuit, which has yet to make it to trial, is seeking damages for the “pain, suffering, and mental anguish” endured by 17-year-old Christopher Jake Stone, the son of Rosie Yanas and Christopher Stone. The couple is also seeking compensation to cover funeral and burial expenses.
The second family joining the suit are the parents of freshman Aaron McLeod, Mark and Gail McLeod.