Red Lake massacre

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Red Lake massacre
Location	Red Lake, Minnesota, United States
Date	Monday, March 21, 2005 2:49 p.m. – 2:58 p.m. (UTC-5)
Attack type	School shooting, mass murder, murder-suicide, massacre, spree killing
Weapon(s)	.40 caliber Glock 23 pistol, Ruger .22 caliber pistol, Remington 12 gauge shotgun
Deaths	10 (including the perpetrator)
Injured	5
Perpetrator	Jeffrey Weise

The Red Lake massacre was an incident of mass murder that occurred in two places on the Red Lake reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota, United States. The first murders began on the morning of March 21, 2005, when 16-year-old Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend. He later drove his grandfather's police vehicle to Red Lake Senior High School, where he shot and killed seven people on the school campus, comprising five students, one teacher and an unarmed security guard, and wounded five others. The shooting ended when Weise committed suicide.

Contents 1 March 21, 2005: The Massacre 2 Aftermath 3 Fatalities 4 Possible motives 5 Internet activities 6 References 7 External links 7.1 News articles

[edit] March 21, 2005: The Massacre

The incident began on the morning of March 21, 2005, when Weise killed his paternal grandfather, Daryl Lussier, Sr., with a .22 caliber pistol while Lussier was sleeping. It is not known how Weise got the pistol, but he is believed to have possessed it for as long as one year before the shooting. Weise then stole Lussier's two police-issue weapons, a .40 caliber Glock 23 pistol and a Remington 12 gauge pump-action shotgun. He then shot and killed Michelle Leigh Sigana, Lussier's girlfriend.

Weise then drove his grandfather's squad car to Red Lake Senior High School, arriving at around 2:45 p.m. Central Standard Time (19:45 UTC). Passing through the building's main entrance, he encountered unarmed security guard Derrick Brun, who was manning the school's metal detector. Weise fatally shot Brun, and then proceeded down the school's main hallway. Weise then began opening fire in a classroom,^[1] killing three students and one teacher, and wounding three others. Jeffrey May, a 16-year-old sophomore, tried to wrestle Weise inside the classroom, and had managed to stab him with a pencil.^[2] This allowed students to evacuate the classroom, however May was shot in the neck and jaw, leaving him in serious condition. Another student, Chase Lussier (no relation to Daryl Lussier), was rumored to have taken a shotgun blast to save another student.^[3]

Witnesses say Weise smiled as he was shooting at people. In an incident reminiscent of the events that took place during the Columbine High School massacre, one witness said that he asked a student if he believed in God.^[1]

At around 2:52 p.m. Weise returned to the main entrance where he killed two students and wounded two others. FBI special agent Paul McCabe stated that Weise had engaged in a shoot-out with the police, that lasted about four minutes. Weise eventually retreated to a vacant classroom after sustaining two gunshot wounds to the abdomen and right arm.^[4] None of the officers were hit.^[1] Weise then committed suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun blast to the head.

[edit] Aftermath

• The Chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Buck Jourdain, stated that the shootings were "one of the darkest and most painful occurrences in the history of our tribe."^[5]

• The shooting is the fifth deadliest school massacre in the United States, behind the Columbine High School massacre, University of Texas shooting, the Virginia Tech massacre and the Bath School disaster.

• Red Lake High School had installed metal detectors and had hired a security guard in 1995.

• Louis Jourdain, the son of Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr., was arrested in connection with the shootings on March 28, 2005 and charged with conspiracy. He was charged with conspiracy to commit murder based on several email messages he exchanged with Jeff Weise which involved plans for the Red Lake High School massacre. The conspiracy charge was eventually dropped, though Jordain pled guilty to transmitting threatening messages through the Internet.

• Jeffrey May, a sophomore who was injured during the massacre, was considered to be a hero by many for attempting to attack the gunman, and was featured in the Reader's Digest^{[6] [7] [8]} and the New York Times.

• President Bush praised security guard Derrick Brun on March 26, 2006. He said "Derrick's bravery cost him his life, and all Americans honor him... ...Although he was unarmed, Derrick ignored the pleas of a colleague to run for his life... ...by engaging the assailant; he bought vital time for a fellow security guard to rush a group of students to safety."

• The massacre was briefly blamed on the 2003 film Elephant which is about a school shooting and was watched by Jeffrey Weise 17 days prior to the shooting. ^[9] A friend of Weise said that he brought the movie over to a friends house and skipped ahead to parts that showed two students planning and carrying out a school massacre, although they talked about the film afterwards Jeffrey Weise said and did nothing to make anyone suspect what he was planning. ^[10]

• On July 21, 2006, the Red Lake school district had reached a settlement with the families of the massacre victims. The school district agreed to pay $1,000,000 each to 21 of the victims' families, the maximum amount allowed by Minnesota law. Of the settlement, $900,000 will immediately be granted to the families, and the remaining $100,000 will be set aside for future distribution...

[edit] Fatalities

• Daryl Allen Lussier, age 58, police officer and Jeff Weise's grandfather.

• Michelle Leigh Sigana, age 31, police officer and Lussier's girlfriend.

• Derrick Brian Brun, age 28, security guard for Red Lake High School.

• Alicia White, age 15, student.

• Neva Jane Winnecoup-Rogers, age 62, English teacher.

• Thurlene Marie Stillday, age 15, student.

• Chanelle Rosebear, age 15, student.

• Chase Albert Lussier, age 16, student.

• Dewayne Michael Lewis, age 15, student.

[edit] Possible motives

After the massacre, police investigators began searching for reasons why Weise carried out his violent actions. According to reports, Weise was often bullied in school by classmates for his appearance, however he usually did not respond to their taunts. He was considered an outcast by many of his fellow students, and remained withdrawn and alone. Weise was known to wear a black trench coat and other black clothing to school all-year round, and was labeled as a "Goth kid" by many of his classmates.^[11]

Weise allegedly had a history of troublesome behavior at school, including getting into fist-fights with students. On one occasion, he reportedly engaged in a fist-fight with another student whom he referred to as a "Communist". In April 2004, the faculty of Red Lake Senior High School suspected Weise of threatening to "shoot up" the school on April 20, the day the Columbine High School massacre occurred. Although Weise claimed that he was unfairly accused, he was expelled from public schooling, and was placed in a home-schooling program.

[edit] Internet activities

Weise was discovered to have been active on the internet, and to have listed numerous postings on many websites. According to The Smoking Gun, Weise created two violent Flash animations for Newgrounds.com, using the alias "Regret". One animation entitled Target Practice, depicts an individual who murders three people with an AK-47, blows up a police car with a grenade, and kills a Klansman. The animation ends after 30 seconds when the shooter takes his own life. Weise had created another Flash animation entitled Clown, in which a clown strangles a man to death.^[12]

Weise has also posted 34 messages on the Neo-Nazi Internet forum of the Libertarian National Socialist Green Party under the aliases NativeNazi and Todesengel (German for "angel of death"). The posts revealed an admiration for the ideas of Adolf Hitler, and interests in persuading other Native Americans as to the merits of those ideas.

In one post, dated July 13, 2004, he wrote:

As a result of cultural dominance and interracial mixing there is [sic] barely any full blooded Natives left. Where I live less than 1% of all the people on the Reservation can speak their own language, and among the youth wanting to be black has run rampant...Under a National Socialist government, things for us would improve vastly… and that is why I am pro-Nazi. [1]

A LiveJournal account apparently created by Weise contained just three entries posted between December 2004 and January 2005. The weblog was customized to be rendered in black and white, and Weise expressed feelings in his few writings including a desire for change and salvation in his life.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Red Lake Schools website
• Red Lake Net News
• Sota Iya Ye Yapi On-Line
• "The Depressive and the Psychopath", "Slate"
• "Target Practice", a violent flash animation that the perpetrator created 5 months before the incident

[edit] News articles

Wikinews has related news: Ten dead on Minnesota Indian reservation after school shooting

• "Ten killed in US school shooting", BBC News, March 22, 2005.
• Karnowski, Steve. "Shooting suspect apparently posted messages on neo-Nazi site", Duluth News Tribune, March 22, 2005.
• "Shooter is described as 'Goth kid'", Star-Telegram (subscription required)
• "Native Americans Criticize Bush's Silence", Washington Post, March 25, 2005.
• "Tribal leader's son charged with conspiracy", Star Tribune, March 29, 2005.