The latest ruling on liability in a mass murder of schoolchildren has been handed down, and in this case, a judge has ruled that the parents of the accused shooter are not responsible for the actions of their son. This follows a ruling in a separate case earlier this year when the parents of another school shooter were convicted for their role.
While litigants argue that the parents in this case, too, should be held responsible, ultimately, the judge determined that the legal system could not find them liable for their son’s actions.
Dimitrios Pagourtzis & The 2018 Mass Shooting In A Texas High School
On May 18, 2018, 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis posted a photo of a “Born To Kill” t-shirt on Facebook. By the end of the day, the body count at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, would be eight dead, with another 13 wounded. The weapons involved, a shotgun and pistol, both belonged to Pagourtzis’ father.
The teen admitted to authorities that he had shot with intent to kill, according to Click2Houston.
However, at this time, he hasn’t been convicted. His criminal trial has been delayed repeatedly, as he remains in a mental health facility, having been repeatedly found incompetent to stand trial. The Albuquerque Journal reported that he was initially placed on a 120-day hold, but at each further evaluation, Pagourtzis has been recommitted for an additional 12 months at a time.
Civil Cases Have Proceeded Against Pagourtzis, His Family, & Other Entities
While the criminal case against Pagourtzis has been halted indefinitely, a civil case has gone to trial.
The lawsuit was brought by surviving victims and families of murdered victims. They sought for the court to hold Pagourtzis; his parents, Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos; and Luckygunner, an online ammunition shop, civilly responsible for the shooting.
They alleged that Luckygunner had liability for selling ammunition to a person who was not able to purchase it legally and that the parents had liability for failing to seek mental health care for their son and to secure their weapons better. The ammo shop settled with the plaintiffs before trial, leaving the jury to decide about Pagourtzis and his parents’ liability.
Jury Finds That Shooter Is Responsible; Parents Are Not
The civil trial concluded with the determination that litigants had failed to prove that Pagourtzis’ parents had not met their responsibilities regarding their son’s mental health and the security of their guns. One attorney cited the lack of legislation governing gun storage and security. The New York Times reported:
“If we’re not going to have gun control laws as it relates to sellers, we at least need laws on how people keep and store their guns if we’re going to protect our children,” said Alton Todd, a lawyer for Rhonda Hart, whose daughter Kimberly Vaughan was killed in the shooting. “These parents stood up and tried, and this jury just didn’t think we met our burden of proof.”
Though the jury did find Pagourtzis responsible and brought a verdict totaling $330 million for the victims and families, they shouldn’t expect to ever see a dime of it since the shooter, now in his 20s, remains incompetent to stand trial and would not have the ability to pay even if released, ABC7NY reports.
A Contrasting Case: Ethan Crumbley
The case of Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 when he murdered four students and injured another 7 people at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021, may have given plaintiffs in the Pagourtzis case false hope for holding the shooter’s parents responsible.
Earlier this year, Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were found guilty of four counts of manslaughter in a criminal trial. While a criminal trial holds a higher bar of evidence than a civil lawsuit, the prosecution in their case brought sufficient evidence to convince a jury.
The two were sentenced to a minimum of ten years in prison, the Associated Press reported in April, in the first-ever conviction of parents of a school shooter.
Why The Case Against Crumbley’s Parents Was So Different
James and Jennifer Crumbley are accused of ignoring or laughing off serious signs of their son’s mental state. For at least six months before the mass murder, prosecutors argue, the parents neglected to respond to serious signs of violent fantasies and depression. Instead, they bought him a gun days before the shooting, the Detroit Free Press reported.
On the morning of the murders, the couple was called to the school to be shown violent imagery Ethan had drawn on his math assignment, interspersed with such written commentary as “the thoughts won’t stop” and “help me” and “blood everywhere.”
Prosecutors argued this would have been the time for the parents to mention that their son had a brand-new firearm all his own, to check his backpack, or even to take him home for the day. They could have taken the opportunity to ask their son where his weapon was.
School Shootings Continue
At least 22 school shootings with deaths or injuries have been documented in 2024 so far, according to EdWeek. Their criteria requires that the shooting happen on school property or a school bus, during school hours or during school events, and does not include shots fired by anyone authorized to carry a firearm on school property (school resource officers for example) or suicides or self-inflicted injuries, making it a conservative count.
Nonetheless, in 2024 so far — and with the new school year just beginning — there have been 7 deaths in school shootings, 3 of them children, and an additional 29 individuals injured.
Across the country, activists are fighting for more legislation that would require gun owners to secure their weapons in a way that would prevent their children from gaining access to them. These laws would also help hold parents accountable when they fail to take steps to keep firearms out of children’s hands.
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