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Green Ranger
03-22-2005, 01:13 PM
REDBY, Minn. (March 22) - The suspect in the worst U.S. school shooting since Columbine smiled and waved as he gunned down five students, a teacher and a guard, asking one of his victims whether he believed in God, witnesses said. The teen's grandfather and his grandfather's wife also were found dead, and the boy killed himself.

Reggie Graves, a student at Red Lake High School, said he was watching a movie about Shakespeare in class Monday when he heard the gunman blast his way past the metal detector at the school's entrance, killing a guard.

Then, in a nearby classroom, he heard the gunman say something to his friend Ryan: ''He asked Ryan if he believed in God,'' Graves said. ''And then he shot him.''

The death toll at the Red Lake Indian Reservation in far northern Minnesota made it the nation's worst school shooting since the rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in April 1999 that ended with the deaths of 12 students, a teacher and the two teen gunmen.

The victims included the gunman's grandfather; the grandfather's wife; a school security guard; a teacher; and five other students. At least 14 others were wounded, and two students remained in critical condition Tuesday at MeritCare in Fargo, N.D., officials said.

''There's not a soul that will go untouched by the tragic loss that we've experienced here,'' Floyd Jourdain Jr., chairman of the Red Lake Chippewa Tribe, told WCCO-TV of Minneapolis on Tuesday.

Police said the gunman killed himself after exchanging fire with officers. Red Lake Fire Director Roman Stately said the gunman had two handguns and a shotgun.

''We ask Minnesotans to help comfort the families and friends of the victims who are suffering unimaginable pain by extending prayers and expressions of support,'' Gov. Tim Pawlenty said.

The shooter was Jeff Weise, a 17-year-old student who had been placed in the school's Homebound program for some violation of policy, said school board member Kathryn Beaulieu. Students in that program stay at home and are tutored by a traveling teacher. Beaulieu said she didn't know what Weise's violation was, and wouldn't be allowed to reveal it if she did.


'The Darkest Hour'




There was no immediate indication of Weise's motive. But several students said he held anti-social beliefs, and he may have posted messages on a neo-Nazi Web site expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler.

A writer who identified himself as Jeff Weise of the Red Lake Reservation posted the messages under the nickname ''Todesengel'' - German for ''angel of death.'' An April 2004 posting by him referred to being accused of ''a threat on the school I attend,'' though the writer later said he was cleared.

Relatives told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that Weise was a loner who usually wore black and was teased by other kids. Relatives told the newspaper his father committed suicide four years ago, and that his mother was living in a Minneapolis nursing home because she suffered brain injuries in a car accident.

Beaulieu said school was canceled Tuesday, but plans hadn't been made for the rest of the week.

During the rampage, teachers herded students from one room to another, trying to move away from the sound of the shooting, said Graves, 14. He said some students crouched under desks.

Some pleaded with the gunman to stop. ''You could hear a girl saying, 'No, Jeff, quit, quit. Leave me alone. What are you doing?''' Sondra Hegstrom told The Pioneer of Bemidji.

Student Ashley Morrison said she heard shots, then saw the gunman's face peering though a door window of a classroom where she was hiding with several other students. After banging at the door, the shooter walked away and she heard more shots, she said.

''I can't even count how many gunshots you heard, there was over 20. ... There were people screaming, and they made us get behind the desk,'' she said.

FBI spokesman Paul McCabe said the gunman exchanged gunfire with Red Lake police in a hallway, then retreated to a classroom, where he was believed to have shot himself.

All of the dead students were found in one room, including the teen believed to be the shooter.

Authorities closed roads to the reservation in far northern Minnesota while they investigated the shootings. The reservation, about 240 miles north of the Twin Cities, is home to the Red Lake Chippewa Tribe, one of the poorest in the state. According to the 2000 census, 5,162 people lived on the reservation, and all but 91 were Indians.

Some of the injured were being cared for in Bemidji, about 20 miles south of Red Lake. Police officers were posted at the hospital Monday night to keep reporters from entering. When a reporter approached three men walking across a hospital parking lot, one broke down in tears and the others said they had no comment.

It was the second fatal school shooting in Minnesota in 18 months. Two students were killed at Rocori High School in Cold Spring in September 2003. Student John Jason McLaughlin, who was 15 at the time, awaits trial in the case.

Red Lake High School has about 300 students, according to its Web site.


03-22-05 1004EST

Green Ranger
03-22-2005, 05:33 PM
Numbers on those who are hurt in this report to seven. Also in this report that he got guns from dead grandfather who was a police officer:

BEMIDJI, Minn. - A troubling profile of the teenager who shot dead nine people emerged on Tuesday — one of a Native American who allegedly described himself as a "NativeNazi" and who other students said was regularly picked on for his odd behavior.

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The teenager, identified as Jeff Weise, stormed into Red Lake High School on Monday afternoon and allegedly shot to death an unarmed guard, a teacher and five students before killing himself.

Before the Red Lake shootings, Weise, whom authorities described variously as 16 or 17, allegedly shot dead his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend at the home he shared with them.

Initial reports had as many as 15 people injured in the shootings at the school, but authorities lowered that number to seven on Tuesday. Five remained in regional hospitals, including two students with critical injuries from gunshot wounds to the head or face.

It was the nation’s worst school shooting since the Columbine massacre in 1999 that killed 13 people.

Guns, squad car were grandfather's
The FBI said Tuesday that Weise used guns and a bullet-proof vest owned by his grandfather, a local police officer, and drove to the school in his grandfather's squad car.


KARE_TV via AP file
Jeff Weise, now 16 or 17, is shown in an undated family photo. He allegedly killed nine people in a shooting spree Monday before killing himself.
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Red Lake Fire Director Roman Stately identified the shooter’s grandfather as Daryl Lussier, a longtime officer with the Red Lake Police Department.

At the school entrance Weise encountered a 28-year old unarmed security guard, whom he apparently shot and killed, FBI spokesman Michael Tabman said Tuesday. After killing a number of students and a teacher, "he then roamed through the school, firing randomly," said Tabman.

When police officers arrived, there was an exchange of fire and Weise apparently retreated to a classroom and killed himself. The whole episode lasted about 10 minutes, Tabman said.

Though Weise was captured on videotape inside the school, the recording did not capture any of the actual killings, Tabman said.

Previous violation
Weise had been placed in the school’s Homebound program for a policy violation, said school board member Kathryn Beaulieu. Students in that program stay at home and are tutored by a traveling teacher. Beaulieu said she didn’t know what Weise’s violation was, and wouldn’t be allowed to reveal it if she did.


Student Sondra Hegstrom, 17, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Weise was into Goth culture, wore "a big old black trench coat," drew pictures of skeletons, listened to heavy metal music and "talked about death all the time."

A couple of his friends had said he was suicidal, she added, and they said they were watching a movie once when he said, "That would be cool if I shot up the school."

"They didn't think anything of it," Hegstrom said, but "he got terrorized a lot" by others who called him names.

Relatives of Weise told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that Weise's father committed suicide four years ago, and his mother lives in a Minneapolis nursing home because she suffered brain injuries in a car accident, the relatives said.

Tabman said investigators did not know if a grudge or vendetta led to the killings and that Weise's targets appeared to be random. Authorities also said Weise appeared to have acted alone.

CheerMom
03-22-2005, 05:49 PM
Thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this horrible tragedy.:(

Gobbla2001
03-22-2005, 07:51 PM
Not a bad thing to pray about...

Also, pray for that lady in Florida whose lips and tongue are drying out and cracking open as we speak due to dehydration etc... because they won't reinsert her feeding tube (after they had it taken out, sick)...

WARNING: I would not like to see this, but would RATHER have someone walk in and shoot her full of led and get it over with than have her starving to death... Convicted murderers are put to death in more humain conditions than this (as well as cats and dogs)...

The only thing is, Florida cannot have a recount after this life is taken, it will be lost forever...

God Bless Terry!!!