Texas school shooting victims: Pakistan exchange student and substitute teacher among victims of gunman

A foreign exchange student from Pakistan and substitute teacher with a "lust for life" are among the first named victims of a mass shooting at a Texas high school.

Ten people were killed when a student gunman opened fire at Santa Fe High School on Friday.

Sabika Sheikh, aged 18, was confirmed dead by the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, DC.

Family members confirmed substitute teacher Cynthia Tisdale was also among the victims.

Cynthia Tisdale, top right, with her husband Recicie Tisdale niece Olinde
AP

Ms Sheikh had been on the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study Abroad programme (YES).

Megan Lysaght, the programme’s manager, sent a letter to students in the programme confirming she was killed in the shooting.

She wrote: “Please know that the YES programme is devastated by this loss and we will remember Ms Sheikh and her families in our thoughts and prayers.”

The Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC wrote on Twitter: "Our thoughts and prayers are with Sabika's family and friends."

The Pakistan Association of Greater Houston said on Facebook that Ms Sheikh was due to go back home to Pakistan for Eid al-Fitr, a three-day holiday that marks the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

"May Allah bless her soul and may she RIP," the statement said.

Cynthia Tisdale's niece, Leia Olinde, said she was like a mother to her and helped her shop for wedding dresses last year.

"She helped me put it on, she helped fix my hair," Ms Olinde said through tears.

A heavy police presence at the school in Houston after at least eight people were killed in a shooting
AP

"She was wonderful. She was just so loving," the 25-year-old added. "I've never met a woman who loved her family so much."

She said Ms Tisdale was married to her husband for close to 40 years and that the two had three children and eight grandchildren.

Ms Tisdale's house was the cent for family gatherings, and she loved cooking Thanksgiving dinner and decorating her house, her niece said.

The suspected gunman, 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, injured a further 10 people when he opened fire in an art class shortly before 8am.

The University of Texas Medical Branch tweeted on Saturday that two of them remain in a critical condition.

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