In the small central Greek village where the father of Texas teen high shooter Dimitris Pagourtzis was born, and still visits annually, there was disbelief the youth had conducted a massacre of fellow students, killing nine and a teacher.

The shooting at the Santa Fe high school was the fourth deadliest mass shooting at a public school in what has become so common that this year they are happening almost monthly, each time raising new fears and with a common denominator of someone seeking vengeance for a slight.

The family were “quiet, peaceable people” who didn’t seem out of place and showed signs of a good upbringing, residents of Magoulitsa told the news agency Reuters.

Antonios Pagourtzis left the village in his mid-20’s to go to the United States but regularly returned in the summer and runs local a business selling agricultural machinery, one resident acquainted with him said.

The family were “peaceable people, focused on work, business-minded,” he said, asking not to be identified. “He never caused trouble,” he said of the father.

Dimitrios rarely visited the village – residents said they saw him either last summer or the summer before – but those who did say he was quiet and did not show signs of unusual behavior.
“In my eyes, they showed good upbringing,” another long-time resident said, also requesting anonymity. “I saw them around. They were good people.”

“We’re lost for words. We did not expect this,” said Costas Spanos, president of the Magoulitsa community, a tiny village in central Greece with just over 500 residents where his father, Antonios Pagourtzis, was born. “We’re in shock. We’re a small community and this makes us look very bad,” he told Reuters over the telephone.

Meanwhile, a picture emerged of the teen killer as a quiet loner obsessed with guns who reportedly had been snubbed by a female student he wanted to date and who reportedly belittled him in class when he got too aggressive in his advances.

Photographs posted on the Facebook page of the Greek Orthodox Church in Galveston pictured him dancing with other costumed performers in other social media and journal posts showed he was obsessed with guns.

A Facebook post on April 30 that has since been taken down showed a black T-shirt with the words “Born to Kill” printed in white.