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| 24 people shot in Red Lake, the majority at Red Lake High School - 10 fatalities |
| Preliminary reports are sketchy and they are all unconfirmed, but it is believed as many as 24 people have been shot on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, and at the Red Lake High School, and as many as 10 are reported to have died as a result of those shootings. The majority of the shootings took place at the school. At the time of this report, the school was still under lockdown and considered a hostile area yet, with local police, FBI investigators, state police, Leech Lake Police and county deputies at the scene, although students still in the building had all been released. According to early reports, sometime after 2 p.m. a student of the school, allegedly shot his grandfather and grandmother at their home in the Back of Town (BOT) area in Red Lake, then went to the Red Lake High School in his grandfather's law enforcement vehicle, where he shot and killed a school security guard, 8 students and 1 teacher.. There are reports of as many as 12 fatalities from the shootings, and 12 wounded--some critically. The names of all the victims are being withheld pending notification of relatives. The boy's grandfather was a veteran law enforcement officer for the Red Lake Police Department with over 30 years experience, and the entire reservation is shocked, stunned and grieving. Although still under investigation and further details will be released at a conference scheduled for 2 p.m. tomorrow, the student was reportedly involved in a confrontation with Red Lake Police inside the school after the shotting, and may have fatally shot himself. The weapons he reportedly used may have belonged to his grandfather, and a fire department official stated the boy was wearing a police utility belt with service revolvers and also had used a shotgun A press conference was scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Criminal Justice Complex in Red Lake..... Prior to the conference in Red Lake however, Paul McCabe of the FBI issued a statement, confirming 8 had died in the shooting, 2 were male students and 2 were female students--including the shooter, a juvenile male--a female teacher, an adult male, and at the residence, a male and female. He said at this time they believed the shooter was acting alone and was among those who had died. He said those stodents who had died were in one classroom when they were shot. McCabe wouldn't eleborate further, stating the investigation was ongoing with numerous law enforcement agencies taking part in the investigation, including the FBI, Red Lake and Leech Lake police departments, Beltrami Council Sheriffs Department and State police. |
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| A press conference was held at the Criminal Justice Center in Red Lake at 7 p.m.. "First of all I'd like to thank everybody for their concern," Chairman Jourdain stated in the conference. "Today we've had an unfortunate and tragic series of events here on the Red Lake Reservation. At this time we're going to defer any specific information over to the Department of Public Safety and also to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is, without a doubt, the darkest hour in the history of our tribe. And I just want to again, send our heartfelt wishes out to the families, the victims, and everybody throughout America, in light of the unfortunate events that happened here today." Jourdain said our community was shocked and in dismay, when asked how the commuity was reacting. He said in dealing with the tragic events, they would rely on people in the community who are leaders, teachers and healers to come forth and advise everyone onhow to go about healing the community. Right now, he said, they were all in the initial stages of shock. They would rely on the advise of elders and professional people to guide them through the crisis. When asked about the security of the reservation, Jourdain stated Red Lake had it's own police department, and the school district also had their own security. "I think the events today were something that could not be avoided," Jourdain said. He said he had no specifics on the shooter, that he wasn't at liberty to comment specifically on the matter. He did say he believed a student came into the school and shot several individuals. Jourdain said he anticipated there would be many support mechanisms that would converge on the reservation, and they also had professionals on the Reservation who had experience in things of this nature--although not this traumatic--when asked about support people for the community. He said those resources would be made available to the community. He was asked if there was any warning of the incident happening, which Jourdain said he didn't know, but didn't see any indication that there was. "It just caught everybody completely by surprise and the whole town was floored by the events that happened here today," Jourdain said. He stated the building was currently secure, all students were out of the building, and the investigation on currently ongoing. The enrollment of Red Lake High School was between 250-300, Chairman Jourdain stated, and further questioning was deferred to Public Safety Director, Pat Mills. |
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| Red Lake Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. |
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| Red Lake Public Safety Director Pat Mills |
| Superintendent of Red Lake Schools Stuart Desjarlait |
| Mills stated they were still conducting their investigation and unable to give out a lot of information. "The only thing I can tell you right now is we have multiple victims in this instant, it did occurr at the school, and there are a number of juveniles involved," Mills stated. "Tomorrow, hopefull around 2-2:30 p.m. we'll have another press release and at that time we'll get into more details of what transpired. There are some situations here that we're still checking into that started this incident that occurred. We did receive a 911 call this afternoon at 2:55 p.m. this afternoon that there was a shooting at the [school]. Our officers did respond almost immediately and the officers did confront the alleged suspect at that time in the school building. There was an exchange of gunfire and that's where we're at now--doing the investigation to determine what took place." Mills further stated that they wanted to let the people know they did have the suspect--they knew who the suspect was, and there were no other individuals out there involved in the incident, so the community wouldn't have to worry about anything else. "All the family members and victims were being taken care of," Mills said. "They're meeting now at IHS (Indian Health Service), they're being provided counseling in any way they we help them, along with the sheriff's department who sent out some of their champlins to assist us in any way." He wouldn't get into any details of the incident, and stated there has been security at the school since 1995. He said there were cameras situated in the school, they have reviewed the tapes, and would relate that information at another conference. The school was locked down after the initial call was received and to his understanding, teachers and staff knew what to do and did what had to be done according to school policies. This occurred within a matter of minutes. Mills stated they have had emergency drills involving similar scenarios just last year, and he felt teachers and staff did what they were trained to do during the crisis. |
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| Superintendent of Red Lake Schools Stuart Desjarlait |
| Superintendent of Schools, Stuart Desjarlait, on behalf of the Red Lake Board of Education, offered their condolences for the victims, and were in the process of getting their crisis management plan into place. "We have one in place and that saved a lot of kids today, and teachers utilizing that plan and following it through on what was supposed to be done on in this case and in situations like this," Desjarlait said. "We have a trememdous staff at Red Lake High School for knowing what to do. We won't be having school for the rest of the week. Tomorrow the district is closed, and the next day the staff will be coming back in." Desjarlait said they would be working with elders, spiritual leaders, mental health counselors, and getting a plan ready when high school teachers come back--and when the students come back to school next Wednesday. He would not comment on the incident specifically due to the investigation still ongoing, and he said the district had about 1500 kids in four buildings. Red Lake's School District consisted of the high school, a middle school and elementary school located in Red Lake, and another K-8 grade school in the Ponemah District about 25 miles north of Red Lake. Mills explained why the FBI was investigating the incident. He said the federal government is responsible for all major crimes that occur on Indian Reservations. Red Lake falls under that jurisdiction of the FBI. Major crimes include homicides, rape, assaults, kidnapping and ect. The Red Lake Police Department handles a lot of the misdemeanor cases and assists the FBI on their felony cases. All Red Lake Schools will be closed until Tuesday of next week, and a press conference is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, when more details will be released, along with the names of victims. |