10 killed at Red Lake

Shooter dead at scene after killing 7 at school and his grandparents; community in shock

By Molly Miron

Pioneer Editor

      RED LAKE - At about 3 p.m. on Monday a young man entered Red Lake High School and opened fire in a deadly shooting rampage.

      According to reports from students on the scene at the school, the boy, a 17-year-old student named Jeff Weise, gunned down the security officer at the school door. He then apparently went through the school until he reached a classroom where he began shooting students and a teacher. As of 8:20 p.m., FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe confirmed that 10 people were dead as a result of the shooting, including a security guard, a teacher and several students.

      McCabe said no names of victims have been released.

      He said late Monday night that at some point during the shooting rampage, Red Lake Police officers arrived at the scene and exchanged gunfire with the shooter in the hallway. The shooter then retreated to a classroom.

      “Preliminary investigation leads us to believe the shooter’s cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” McCabe said.

      He said it is too early in the investigation to speculate on motives for the shootings, but a search brings up the name of Jeff Weise of Red Lake on a Web site www.nazi.org. Students said he was teased because he dressed in gothic style. A tribal elder said the boy was on medication.

      Red Lake Police Chief Pat Mills said that before going to the school, the shooter apparently went to the home of a 30-year veteran Red Lake Police officer and shot him and his wife. The couple, who lived in the Back of Town neighborhood, later died.

      According to Red Lake Fire Chief Roman Stately, the police officer and his wife were the alleged shooter’s grandparents.

      The Red Lake Net News, a Web site supported by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, identified the alleged shooter’s grandfather as Daryl “Dash” Lussier.

      In addition to the 10 dead, about 12 students were injured. McCabe provided no details about the sequence of the shooting, but said most of the dead at the school were found in one room. However, he added that he believes the alleged shooter acted alone.

      The injured were taken to Red Lake Hospital, North Country Regional Hospital in Bemidji and MeritCare Hospital in Fargo, N.D.

      “This is, without doubt, the darkest hour in the history of our tribe,” said Red Lake Chairman Floyd Jourdain. “Our community is in shock and dismay. It’s extremely painful. The community is in utter shock. Our hearts go out to the families.”

      Law enforcement shut down the Red Lake Reservation with roadblocks at about 5 p.m. Monday.

      Student Sondra Hegstrom said she was with her class in the room next door to the shootings.

      “You could hear a girl saying, ‘No, Jeff. Quit! Quit! Leave me alone. Why are you doing this?’ Boom, boom, boom, and then no more screaming,” she said.

      Hegstrom said she saw the alleged shooter carrying a gun before he opened fire. She said he aimed at one boy, then smiled and waved before shooting another student.

      “I looked him in the eye and ran in a room and that’s when I hid,” she said. “I called 911 from a cell phone and they said, ‘Just sit there and wait until the cops come.’”

      Teacher Diane Schwanz was in the school’s Culture Room with her class when she heard the shooting. “I got on the floor and said, ‘Kids, down on the ground, under the benches,’ and I called the cops,” she said.

      Student Ashley Morrison was in the Culture Room when the gunshots started. At first, she said she thought something had fallen over to make the loud sound. Then, she said, the alleged shooter came to the door of the Culture Room.

      “He started banging on our door,” Morrison said.

      Wendy Johnson, Ashley’s mother, said that was when she received the phone call from her daughter.

      “She was hiding and he was shooting the door she was in, trying to get in,” Johnson said. She said she remembers Ashley saying, “Mom, he’s trying to get in here and I’m scared.”

      Hegstrom said teacher Keith Lussier come into their room and told them to run. The school was evacuated and law enforcement began combing the building. The students were directed to walk to the Drug Rehabilitation Center, about one block from the school, where school buses picked them up.

      By then, groups of students, teachers and parents were trying to comfort each other in the area around the school.

      Johnson left work when she received her daughter’s cell phone call.

      “Seeing the kids running out crying, like Littleton,” said Johnson, referring to the 1999 Columbine High School Shooting.

      “We’re just traumatized,” said Robin Isham, who left her work at the Early Childhood Center when she heard of the shootings. “I had four children in that building. I found them all.”

      “You read about it happening other places, but not at our school,” said Hegstrom. “I thought our school was safe.”

      Gov. Tim Pawlenty issued a statement Monday night: “With profound sorrow, the First Lady and I extend our heartfelt prayers and condolences to the families who lost loved ones in this senseless tragedy. 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.”

      Monday’s shooting was the second major school shooting in Minnesota in recent years. In September 2003, two students were shot at Rocori High School in central Minnesota. The Littleton, Colo., Columbine High School cost 12 lives.

      Red Lake High School has about 355 students in grades 9-12.