Santa Fe High School shooting
© SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGESPictures of victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting were displayed during a prayer vigil on Sunday.
The father of the 17-year-old charged with killing 10 people at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, said Monday that his son was a "good boy" and had been "mistreated at school."

Antonios Pagourtzis said in a brief phone interview with The Wall Street Journal that his son Dimitrios was bullied and "I believe that's what was behind" the shooting.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis is being held without bond at the Galveston County Jail after he allegedly burst into an art classroom Friday morning at Santa Fe High School armed with a shotgun and pistol and opened fire, before surrendering to police. In a probable cause statement, authorities said he admitted to the shooting.

The Santa Fe Independent School District didn't respond to requests for comment on whether Dimitrios Pagourtzis was bullied. On Saturday, it denied reports that he was bullied by high-school coaches in this small rural Texas town southeast of Houston.

Nicholas Poehl, a lawyer hired by the Pagourtzis family to represent their son, said Monday that the teen had been bullied but declined to go into specifics. He said he was still trying to ascertain details, including how school officials responded.

The elder Mr. Pagourtzis, who owns a shipping repair company based in Houston, said his family was distraught over the mass shooting.

"I only went to grammar school. I left from my village in northern Greece when I was 12. I only had the clothes I wore and an extra pair of boots," he said. "This country treated us well. I worked hard and became a shipowner. I had three ships, which I sold."

"Now," he added, "our lives are shattered."

The Pagourtzis family was active in a close-knit Greek community in the Houston area and attended church at St. John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church in Webster, about 14 miles from the high school.

The tiny church, located inside a small, brick house in a quiet, residential area, has about 100 families, parishioners said. On Sunday, a police officer was stationed outside. Clergy at the church couldn't be reached for comment. Members declined to discuss the family.

One woman, who has been attending the church for years and didn't want to give her name, said Dimitrios Pagourtzis had long been involved in traditional Greek dancing at Greek festivals in the area. The woman said she had seen him dancing on Mother's Day Weekend at an annual Greek festival in nearby Clear Lake City.

"He looked happy and smiling," she said. "I remember him as a young boy - nice, polite. He had been practicing dancing all these years."

The woman said that she would see Dimitrios's mother at church regularly and would make small talk with her. She described her as "friendly and beautiful."

The woman said the local Greek community was grappling with the revelation that the young boy they had seen dance for so many years was allegedly the same teenager who had gunned down classmates at Santa Fe High.

"I am very upset," she said. "I believed he was this wonderful, young guy."

During Friday's shooting, Dimitrios Pagourtzis was armed with a Remington shotgun and a .38 caliber pistol, according to the probable cause statement. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the guns belonged to the elder Mr. Pagourtzis.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is in the process of running traces on the weapons to determine their purchase history.

Antonios Pagourtzis wouldn't comment in his interview with the Journal on how his son acquired the weapons.

In an interview with Greek Antenna Television on Saturday, Antonios Pagourtzis confirmed the guns were his. "I have guns, I am a hunter and had a farm which I rented in the 1980s," he said, speaking in Greek. "The guns in my house are legal and declared."

The elder Mr. Pagourtzis has faced criminal charges 10 times in Harris County, Texas, since the 1980s, court records show. Three of the cases led to convictions - an illegal dumping case in 2008 and two liquor-related cases from the '80s. In the most recent case, he was charged with assault with bodily injury in 2012, court records show. The case was dismissed.

In 1988, the year he and his second wife, Robin, divorced, Mr. Pagourtzis was indicted on a charge of child-custody interference, records show. The case was dismissed. That same year, a judge awarded him primary custody of the couple's two young children, both now in their 30s.

Lawyer Peter Dadinis, who has represented Mr. Pagourtzis in the past, referred questions to Mr. Poehl. Mr. Poehl declined to comment on the elder Mr. Pagourtzis' legal history, saying he isn't his client.

In the Antenna interview, Mr. Pagourtzis also described his son as "the family's pillar."

"He never got into a fight with anyone. I don't know what happened," he said. "I hope God helps me and my family understand. We are all devastated. It would have been better if he shot me than all those kids."

He said when he saw Dimitrios on Saturday for 20 minutes during a jail visit, his son had his head down.

"He could not look at me in the eyes. He is confused, can't remember what happened. He said he wants to apologize to his sisters. He said he'll be strong and help us see this through," the elder Mr. Pagourtzis said.

Mr. Pagourtzis said in the Antenna interview that he asked relatives in Greece to light three candles: one for the victims, one for Dimitrios Pagourtzis and one for the Pagourtzis family. "I've lost my son like those parents that lost theirs," he said.