On Monday, August 19, a Texas jury found the parents of Dimitrios Pagourtzis not liable for bearing any responsibility for the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting in Santa Fe, Texas. If you’ll recall, a then-17-year-old Pagourtzis used his father’s shotgun and his mother’s .38 handgun to kill eight students and two teachers, while injuring 13 others.

The civil suit was filed by the families of the victims, who contend Pagourtzis’ parents should be held partly responsible for the shooting, since his parents allegedly ignored their son’s mental health issues and allowed him access to the guns used in the shooting. The Pagourtzises hid the key to the gun cabinet in their bedroom closet. That’s ingenious, no kid would ever think to look in there. The only more secure place would have been if they hid the key under their mattress. They may as well have left the key inside the lock.

But not all is lost for the victims’ families. The jury awarded them $300 million. The only catch is they have to collect it from Dimitrios Pagourtzis himself. In case you haven’t heard, he’s been in a mental facility since he was ruled incompetent to stand trial in 2019. I’m guessing there aren’t a lot of moneymaking opportunities there.

This verdict is a slap in a face to the victims’ families, who may never find justice. For more than two decades, I’ve advocated that parents who fail to secure their guns properly, leading to their use in a school shooting, should face charges. And in that time, to my recollection, that has only happened once. That was in the case of the Oxford High School shooting in Michigan, where the shooter’s parents were convicted of manslaughter.

I can really only explain this verdict one way…

Fuckin’ Texas.

Thanks to Lady Gray for the tip.

Source: Jury finds parents of accused Santa Fe HS shooter not liable in civil trial