The parents of a school shooter have been found not liable for their son’s deadly actions in the conclusion of a civil case this week.
Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos were tied up in a legal battle for the past six years, having been accused of negligence that led to the shooting. The civil trial—which began at the end of July and lasted three weeks—was brought against the couple in 2018, after the tragic incident took place.
In May of that year, Dimitrios Pagourzis, who was 17 at the time, opened fire at Santa Fe High School in Texas. The shooting left eight students and two teachers dead and wounded an additional 13 people. Despite being charged with capital murder, the young man was later found unable to stand trial.
He was also listed as a defendant in the civil case against his parents, though he did not make a court appearance. The shooter’s parents were sued for negligence, with plaintiffs arguing that they should have taken more precautions when storing firearms and should have known that their son might commit an act of violence, based on warning signs. The weapon used in the shooting was owned legally by his father.
But on Monday August 19, a jury found that Pagourtzis and Kosmetatos were not liable for their son’s actions. Rather, they determined that the boy, along with online ammunition retailer Lucky Gunner, were responsible for the tragedy. The jury settled on damages of $330 million.
The trial is not the first of its kind to hold adults, including parents, accountable for acts of violence committed by minors. In recent shooting history, a Virginia assistant principal was slapped with child abuse charges for not stepping in to prevent a 6-year-old from shooting his teacher.
Similarly, the parents of a 15-year-old who shot four classmates in Michigan were sentenced to 10 years in prison for failing to intervene based on warning signs. Another father conceded to charges of reckless misconduct following his son’s murder of seven people in an Illinois Fourth of July parade.
