SANTA FE, Texas – A trial in a civil lawsuit against the parents of the accused shooter responsible for the tragic Santa Fe High School shooting has been postponed by a Galveston County judge. The trial, which aims to hold the parents accountable for the massacre that claimed the lives of eight students and two teachers, was originally scheduled to begin on May 28 but has been rescheduled to start on July 29.
Survivors and family members of the victims allege that the accused shooter’s parents failed to properly secure their guns, which were used by the then-teenage gunman to carry out the murders on May 18, 2018. This lawsuit is among the first in the nation seeking to hold the parents of a mass shooter responsible for the tragic events.
The trial delay was announced by Judge Jack Ewing, with a pretrial conference set for July 19 ahead of the rescheduled trial date. This legal proceeding will mark the first time many survivors and family members will come face-to-face with the parents of the accused shooter, who has been deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial and remains committed to a mental health facility.
Legal representatives for the families and survivors are requesting another mental health evaluation before the civil trial begins. The delay in the trial is attributed to the plaintiffs awaiting evidence from the local district attorney’s office, which is handling the criminal proceedings related to the shooting.
While no criminal charges have been filed against the accused shooter’s parents, Antonios Pagourtizis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos, the civil case in which they are involved alleges negligence in properly securing their firearms, leading to the tragic events at Santa Fe High School. In a similar scenario, the parents of the Oxford High School mass shooter in Michigan were recently sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for their role in the tragedy.
Pagourtizis and Kosmetatos are set to undergo a deposition in the civil case on June 20, according to attorney Clint McGuire. The lawsuit against the parents alleges that the accused shooter had access to the weapons due to their negligent failure to secure them properly.
Additionally, the parents of one of the victims also sued companies that provided ammunition to the accused shooter, successfully settling the case last year. Online ammunition seller Luckygunner LLC agreed to implement measures to prevent sales to minors or individuals whose age cannot be verified. Moreover, in 2023, the GOP-led Legislature enacted a law granting families access to their loved ones’ autopsies in the aftermath of the Santa Fe High School shooting.