Heartbreak and Outrage: These Are the Victims of the Santa Fe High School Shooting in Texas
May 19, 2018On Friday, a gunman killed ten people, mostly students, in a mass shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas. Among those killed were an exchange student from Pakistan and a substitute teacher.
The attack, which began around 7:30 a.m., comes just months after a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 people — and, less than a year before that, a mass shooter at a concert in Las Vegas killed 58.
The suspect in the shooting has been identified as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, according to a news release from the Galveston County Sheriff. He is being held in the Galveston County Jail with no bond on capital murder charges.
In addition to the dead, ten people were injured, including a school police officer who confronted the gunman and helped prevent more deaths, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said.
Here is what we know about the slain, including their names, ages, photos and backgrounds, where available.
Sabika Sheikh, 17
Pakistan Association of Greater Houston Facebook
Sabika Sheikh, a Pakistani exchange student, was confirmed dead by the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C.
The Pakistan Association of Greater Houston posted on Facebook that Sheikh was in Texas as part of the Youth Exchange & Study (YES) Programme. According to the post, she was due to come back home to Pakistan on Eid, a religious holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
Sheikh hailed from Karachi, a city of 18 million people in southern Pakistan, reports Al Jazeera. The outlet spoke to Sheikh’s father, Abdul Aziz, who said, “She was extraordinary, genius, and talented.”
Aziz added, “At such a young age she would say such huge things, that sometimes I couldn’t believe it. Even now I cannot believe that my daughter is gone.”
Cynthia Tisdale
Multiple family members confirmed on Facebook that Cynthia Tisdale, a substitute teacher, was killed.
According to her niece, Leia Olinde, Tisdale was substituting in the art class where the gunfire broke out.
Her brother-in-law, John Tisdale, wrote that Tisdale’s husband was stricken with an incurable lung disease that forced him to stop working, so Tisdale worked at Santa Fe High School and took a second job as a server to make ends meet.
“I am certain if we could talk to Cynthia, who is in heaven, the first thing she would say is she is concerned how [her husband] is going to make it,” John Tisdale wrote.
Olinde wrote that Tisdale “was another mother to me. Someone I could talk to about anything and go to for everything.”
She added, “I have no words to describe the way I’m feeling now.”
Shana Fisher, 16
Shana Fisher
GoFundMe
Shana Fisher’s mom described her to the Chronicle as “shy and sweet,” saying, “She had a lot of love in her heart.”
A GoFundMe page launched in her memory says, “Her family is devastated” and “absolutely grief-stricken.”
“She should be worrying about getting her driver’s license, making plans for summer break, maybe start thinking junior year and making plans for college and what she wants be when she grows up,” an aunt, Ericha Fisher Farris, wrote on Facebook. “She should be at home rolling her eyes from fighting with her little sister.”
Christopher Jake Stone, 17
The sister of Chris Stone, 17, confirmed his death on Facebook.
“My baby brother was killed yesterday morning,” Mercedez Stone wrote. “Why my family, and why my beautiful baby brother.”
Mercedez described her brother to CNN as “adventurous” and “willing to try anything.” He liked played football and video games, and he enjoyed hiking, jet skiing and zip-lining, she said.
Stone’s father, also named Christopher, told The New York Times that Stone was the youngest of three siblings — but that he looked out for his sisters.
“Being a brother was his best job,” Stone said. “He was always there if someone needed someone to listen or some cheering up.”
Glenda Perkins
Glenda Perkins
GoFundMe
Perkins was one of two teachers who died, according to authorities.
A GoFundMe page launched in her memory says, “She protected her students in her last moments. The Perkins family is devastated and are remembering her with dear love.”
Zachary Muehe, a sophomore, told The New York Times that Perkins was “everyone’s favorite substitute,” even among students who had graduated.
Kimberly Vaughan
GoFundMe
Kimberly Vaughan
Rhonda Hart spent more than six agonizing hours on Friday trying to find her daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, after learning that gunfire had erupted at her school that morning. “My daughter was in first-period art class at Santa Fe high school today,” Hart, a former watercraft operator in the U.S. Army, wrote on Facebook just after 3 p.m. “There was a shooter. I have not found her. Pass this along.”
Her daughter, it turns out, was among the victims of the shooting that left 9 others dead and 13 wounded. Furious, Hart took to Facebook once again to urge people to fight for gun violence prevention. “Folks-call your damn senators. Call your congressmen. We need to fight for our kids. This is complete bulls—.”
Angelique Ramirez
Angelique Ramirez
GoFundMe
In the chaos that ensued after the terrifying news that a shooter had opened fire at the school, Angelique Ramirez’s aunt, Sylvia Pritchett, took to Facebook to say that she and her family were searching frantically for her niece who was nowhere to be found. “All we got info on is that she was shot in the leg,” she wrote.
Later on, she shared the grim news she and her family had been dreading, saying, “With a broken heart and a soul that just can’t process all this right now, I have to announce my niece was one of the fatalities.” In a GoFundMe page created in honor of Ramirez, family friend Rebecca Ruiz praised the slain teen as “a kind, compassionate and caring individual” who “brought smiles to those who knew her; specifically, her mother (Robin) and younger brother (Amadeus). Angelique’s smile was contagious and brightened up any room she walked into. In losing Angelique, her friends and family lost so much.”
Jared Black, 17
Jared Black
On Wednesday, Jared Conard Black’s family celebrated his 17th birthday with him, his uncle told local station KTRK. Now the teen’s devastated family must grapple with his untimely death. On Friday at 7:22 a.m., a man named Travis Stanich wrote about the massacre on his Facebook page, saying, “Another school shooting this time here in Santa Fe high Jared Conard Black scared for him.”
Seven hours later, before the teen’s death had been confirmed, he wrote, “He was in the classroom that it started I’m worried sick” before he said, “Still waiting to find out if Jared is ok.” Now friends and family are sending prayers to him and his loved ones about Black. One of his friends posted a tribute to him, saying, “This is Jared Conard Black he died from the shootout he was my old friend and I cherish every memory I’ve had with him, he will never be forgotten from me.”
Christian Riley Garcia, 15
The pastor of Crosby Church wrote on the church’s Facebook page that Christian Riley Garcia and his family were parishioners.
“He has grown up in our church, I baptized him many yrs ago,” the pastor wrote. “I just left his wonderful, loving family and extended all of the prayers and love for them from our Church. I don’t know exactly how, but I know together in Christ we can make it.”
The post added, “Riley you are greatly loved and greatly missed.”
Aaron Kyle McLeod