GALVESTON – The parents of one of the teens killed in the May 18 shooting at Santa Fe High School have filed a lawsuit against the parents of the suspected shooter.
Seeking beyond $1 million in damages, Rosie Yanas and Christopher Stone filed suit against Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos on May 24 (less than one week after the shooting) in Galveston County District Court.
On the day of the shooting, Christopher Stone, the 17-year-old son of the plaintiffs, went to school to “spend another happy and productive day educating and preparing himself for all the dreams, goals and promise youth presents, entirely unaware of the catastrophic mass crime which would soon rip viciously away his precious and hope-filled life and those of so many others,” the suit states.
McGuire
Ten people were fatally shot and a dozen others were wounded. The suspected shooter, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old student at the school, was taken into custody afterwards.
The suit accuses Dimitrios’ parents of gross negligence for failing to properly secure their guns, allowing their son access to a .38 caliber handgun and a sawed-off shotgun.
The suit calls Dimitrios a “monstrous murderer who rampaged” among his fellow students.
“And, as each bullet ripped home, 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,” the suit states.
“Had the Murderer not had available to him the weapons for his carnage, his hidden black rage might well have continued to simmer within.”
The suit also accuses the defendants of “failing to properly warn the public” of Dimitrios’ dangerous propensities and failing to obtain mental heath counseling for him.
The plaintiffs are suing for the lost economic support they would have received from their son, mental anguish suffered and funeral expenses.
Clint McGuire of the Houston law firm Martinez & McGuire represents them.
Case No. CV-0081158