The parents of a former student who killed 10 people and wounded several others when he opened fire in Texas at Santa Fe High School in 2018 are not responsible for their son’s actions, a jury found on Monday.
Survivors and family members of the shooting victims accused the parents, Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos, of being negligent in storing their weapons and ignoring signs he would commit a violent act during the three-week civil trial.
The jury instead found the couple’s son, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, and Lucky Gunner, an online retailer from which the shooter purchased the ammunition used in the shooting, liable and awarded $330 million in damages.
In a statement, Jake Felde, Lucky Gunner’s CEO, said his company “isn’t responsible for paying any monetary damages awarded by the jury” because it already reached a separate settlement last year and was not a party to the Texas trial.
On the morning of May 18, 2018, authorities said then-17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis killed eight students and two teachers and wounded 13 others. Pagourtzis was charged with capital murder but was found incompetent to stand trial. He was also a defendant in the civil case but did not appear in court.
The civil trial comes at a crucial time as the nation grapples with gun violence. More parents and other adults are starting to be held accountable for overlooking the red flags of their children and students that led to mass shootings.
