Photo: GoFundMe
On the morning of May 18, 2018, Texas school bus driver Rhonda Hart exchanged “I love you’s” with her daughter, 14-year-old Kimberly Vaughan, when they happened to see each other outside Santa Fe High School, just before classes began.
Hart never saw her daughter alive again.
Not long after school began that day, Kimberly — a freshman who loved all things Harry Potter, as well as spending time with her mother and little brother — was gunned down in her art class in one of the worst school shootings in Texas history.
Kimberly died after Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, allegedly shot and killed her, as well as 7 other students and 2 adults. Thirteen others were wounded at the Santa Fe, Texas, high school.
Arrested and charged with capital murder, Pagourtzis’s trial was supposed to begin on February 18, 2020.
But after being declared incompetent to stand trial, in November, State District Judge John Ellisonordered Pagourtzis “committed to and confined”to a Texas Department of State Health Services facility, local station KTRK reports.
Ellison ordered him to be committed to a state mental facility for up to 120 days, the Associated Press and Fox 6 report.
Ellison made the ruling after three separate mental health expertsfound the teen mentally incompetentto stand trial, local station Fox 6 and the Associated Press report.
On Thursday, Pagourtzis was sent to North Texas State Hospital,where he will be treated in hopes of helping him regain competency to stand trial,his attorney said, KHOU reports.
He will be treated at the facility for at least 120 days, Fox 6 reports.
He must pass another competency review before he can stand trial, KTRK reports.
“I hope he gets the treatment he needs because clearly Texas leadership will not pass gun reform,” Hart tells PEOPLE.
“Now I hope we can move forward with the trials and get some closure for the families,” she says. “This has been a long, drawn-out process and it would be lovely to put this all behind us.”
Pagourtzis’s lawyers say he doesn’t remember much about the day he allegedly fatally gunned down 10 people and shot and wounded 13, KTRK reports.
During the 30-minute massacre, he allegedly said,“If you all move, I’m going to shoot you all,”junior Breanna Quintanilla said, KCCI and the Associated Press report.
“He was playing music, making jokes,” student Trenton Beazely toldGood Morning America.“Every time he’d kill someone he’d say,‘Another one bites the dust,'”ABC News reports.
He was heard allegedly yelling “Surprise, mother—-ers!’ before he shot into a closet filled with terrified students, one student said.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
He also allegedly shouted a victorious ‘Woo hoo!’ as he hunted victims, survivor Isabelle Laymance told theWashington Post.
Armed with his father’s .38-caliber handgun and a shotgun, he allegedly taunted students when their phones rang, asking them if they wanted to come out of hiding and answer the calls.
“Do you think it’s for you? Do you want to come answer it?'” he allegedly said, theLos Angeles Timesreports.
Before the attack, he allegedly carefully laid out his deadly plan in a journal and a home computer, say prosecutors,USA Todayreports.
During a private meeting with survivors and victims’ families in Texas,Hart asked Pres. Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz what they planned to do to keep children safe in schools — but she didn’t get an answer, she says.
Facebook; SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty
“I said all that and (Trump) didn’t say anything,” she said at the time. “He was just like, ‘Uhhhh …’ “
Pagourtzis’ attorney, Nicholas Poehl, told PEOPLE in a statement, “We’re glad that he’s getting the treatment that all parties agree he needs, and really grateful that the Court and prosecution were able to make that happen as fast as they did. Now, we await the outcome of his treatment, and are hopeful for progress.”
source: people.com
