Saturday, May 19, 2018

Pakistani exchange student killed in Texas school shooting


SABIKA SHEIKH
ASAM NEWS

AN EXCHANGE STUDENTfrom Pakistan is among the 10 people killed when a gunman went on a shooting spree at Santa Fe High School near Houston Friday (May 18) morning.

The Pakistani Embassy in Washington D.C. confirmed that Sabika Sheikh has been identified among the nine students and one teacher killed, reports Gulf Today.

Sabina is one of 75 students from Pakistan to participate in the Youth Exchange and Study Abroad program.

“Please know that the YES programme is devastated by this loss and we will remember Sabika and her families in our thoughts and prayers,” Lysaght wrote.

Sheikh father found out about his daughter’s death watching the news in Pakistan on CNN, according to The News

“I kept calling her and sent her messages on WhatsApp. Never before had my daughter failed to reply,” said her tearful father, Abdul Aziz.

“We are still in a state of denial. It is like a nightmare.”

Actress Mindy Kaling expressed her condolences on Twitter.


Police have arrested 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis and have charged him with capital murder and aggravated assault. Authorities say he used guns -- a shotgun and a revolver -- he got from his father in the shooting spree.

The Texas shootings occurred months after a shooting rampage at Marjorie Douglas Stonman High School in Florida where 17 were killed.

The year is not even half over and already, there have been more deaths in US school shootings so far in 2018 than there have been deaths in the U.S. military, according to an analysis by the Washington Post.

Earlier this month Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, a Republican, spoke in front of the NRA convention and said,  "The problem is not guns, it's hearts without God," Abbott said at the time, according to The Texas Observer.

After the high school shooting, on Friday, Abbott called for gun laws . "We need to do more than just pray for the victims and their families," The governor will begin holding roundtable discussions next week with "stakeholders to begin to work immediately on swift solutions to prevent tragedies like these from ever happening again," according to the Dallas Morning News.

(Views From the Edge contributed to this report.)______________________________________________________________________________

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