LEAGUE CITY, Texas — The parents of the accused Santa Fe shooting gunman are facing two civil lawsuits.
Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos are being sued for negligence. The lawsuits claim Dimitrios Pagourtzis’ parents didn’t recognize the warning signs in their son that could have prevented the Santa Fe tragedy.
The couple son is believed to be the gunman behind the school shooting at Santa Fe High School left 10 people dead.
The wrongful death lawsuits look at holding his parents responsible.
In an exclusive interview with KHOU 11, Ron Rodgers, who is representing the couple in the civil lawsuits, said the allegations against his clients aren’t true.
“The lawsuits are alleging that they just left the guns out for him to take which just isn’t true,” Rodgers said.
“What I know from the family is that all of the guns that the family owned were locked up in a gun cabinet. Dimitrios did not have the key. He was not entrusted with the key. However, it seems that he stole the key at some point.” said Rodgers.
Rodgers said the initial lawsuit was filed within a week of the shooting before all the facts were laid out.
“This case is different from a lot of other mass shootings that have come before where the teen’s obviously troubled, had a pattern or history of psychological problems and the guns were just readily available,” Rodgers said.
He said the alleged shooter showed no signs he was troubled.
“Whatever problems he was dealing with, he hid it from everybody,” Rodgers said.
Under Texas gun storage laws, weapons must be kept locked up and away from children under 17.
However, since the suspect was 17, Rodgers believes there was no criminal wrongdoing.
He said, “Like within the statute if he was 16 or under, I still don’t believe my clients would be subject to that statute as the guns were locked up and they were secured."
Rodgers wants to make sure his clients get a fair trial as they deal with the allegations against their son.
“They’re grieving as well and struggling to figure out what happened and why,” Rodgers said.
The families in the civil suits are seeking $1 million in damages.
Clint McGuire with Martinez & McGuire PLLC is representing some of the families in the civil lawsuit.
McGuire said he's confident they will be able be demonstrate the accused shooter's parents knew or should have known, given their son's mental state, that their weapons should have been safeguarded in order to prevent this tragedy from taking place.
In addition, McGuire said Antonios Pagourtzis has given multiple inconsistent versions on how his son acquired the weapons.