Red Lake sues for access to shooting video, killer’s records

By Jim Ragsdale St. Paul Pioneer Press

The Red Lake School District, facing hundreds of workers compensation claims from employees and the possibility of multiple lawsuits, is seeking to view a complete video record of a student's killing spree at Red Lake High School as well as the killer's academic and psychological records.

Those materials, the district said in a motion filed Thursday, were among items seized by the FBI immediately after the March 21 shootings. Eight people died in the school, including the shooter, 16-year-old student Jeff Weise, who took his own life. Seven were injured. Weise had killed his grandfather and his grandfather's partner at home before assaulting the school.

Shamus O'Meara, a Minneapolis attorney who is representing the school district in the shootings and expected legal claims, said federal officials have declined to make the materials available, and he has failed at attempts to use freedom-of-information laws to view them.

"There is an immediate need to thoroughly review the District's security system to ensure the protection of staff and students from incidents of violence," the school district said in its motion. The district is asking a federal judge to allow the district to view the materials.

U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger, whose office is leading the criminal investigation into the shootings, said he had not yet reviewed the papers and could not comment on the district's request. The criminal case against a second 16-year-old student, Louis Jourdain, suspected of helping plot the assault is still pending. According to the district's court filings, video cameras in the school recorded what a technician described as "graphic and detailed incidents of the murder scene."

The district retained a copy, but it is a shortened version without all the available camera angles, O'Meara said, and the district wants to view copies held by federal investigators.

The district is also seeking access to educational records for Weise, who was at home that day on the school's homebound instruction program. Included in the district's request are records from the teacher who visited Weise at home during the school year. The district also said it believes the FBI has a psychiatrist's report on Weise.

"The district's perspective is that these are important items of information to have so that we can cogently speak to the issues of security, with the school board, with the district staff, as well as the community," O'Meara said. "Without them, we simply have not done the job we need to do to fully evaluate that system." In the court papers, the district said "several hundred workers compensation claims" have been filed against the district over the shootings. The papers suggested that many lawsuits are possible, and said groups of victims families, school employees and parents of students in one classroom all are consulting attorneys.