Law enforcement respond to shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, Photo: Screenshot/ABC
Ten people were killed in a shooting in Santa Fe High School in Texas on Friday including a Pakistani exchange student Sabica Sheikh, who was studying under the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program.
Sabica was among nine students who fell victim to the shooting. Texas officials have charged a 17-year-old student Dimitrios Pagourtzis with murder at the high school.
YES Program officials and Pakistani embassy in Washington D.C. have confirmed the death of Sabica in the shooting.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Sabika’s family and friends,” Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry said in an embassy statement.
The painful news of yet another school shooting re-ignited the debate over gun reform issues.
President Donald Trump has expressed grief over the loss of life.
“We grieve for the terrible loss of life, and send our support and love to everyone affected by this horrible attack in Texas. To the students, families, teachers and personnel at Santa Fe High School – we are with you in this tragic hour, and we will be with you forever…” he said.
We grieve for the terrible loss of life, and send our support and love to everyone affected by this horrible attack in Texas. To the students, families, teachers and personnel at Santa Fe High School – we are with you in this tragic hour, and we will be with you forever… pic.twitter.com/LtJ0D29Hsv
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2018
The massacre in Texas follows one of the deadliest shootings in a Florida high school earlier this year, which triggered a widespread campaign by students and rights activists for strict gun control laws..
Ten people were hurt in the attack, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.
Pakistani Exchange Program student Sabica Sheikh Photo: Diala Samara Facebook post
Meanwhile, Megan Lysaght, the program manager (Inbound) at American Councils for International Education confirmed that Sabica was among the killed.
“It is with [the] greatest sadness in my heart that I need to inform you that one of our YES students, Sabika Sheikh of Pakistan, was killed today in the school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas,” she wrote in a letter to YES program students.
“Please know that the YES program is devastated by this loss and we will remember Sabika and her families in our thoughts and prayers. We will have a moment of silence in her memory today,” Lysaght wrote.
