CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Teen's Rampage Leaves 10 Dead in Minn.
By JOSHUA FREED



REDBY, Minn. - 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 of them 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.

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.

The governor said it appeared the school had "very rigorous security."

"It looks like you had a very disturbed individual who was able to overcome a lot of precautions to do a lot of damage," Pawlenty said.

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.

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.

On the Net:

Red Lake High School: http://www.paulbunyan.net/rlschools/hs.htm

Red Lake Nation: http://www.redlakenation.org/

Volt wrote:Don't you get it man?! Can't you seee!? I just came back from Linear Algebra... 8 HOURS of Linear Algebra.

"Teen's Rampage Leaves 10 Dead in Minn"
>> OOOOHHH i thought it said "Teens Rampage"...

XD I can't tell teh differentce between a brick and a block of cheese.

Ok, IF he were alive that's what i'd say. But he's not. Sucks to be him. And what has he proved? What has he done? What has the culprit accomplished... sadly nothing but pain to others, what a way to be remembered.

I can't think of a public school that doesn't have cops and metal detectors in it.

Mi-Ru-Me wrote:This ticks me off. For one there are people with worse lives who grow up just fine without murdering 10 people and injuring others. Its not just hert people who were shot its evry person in the community will carry this in their souls and yes kids who suffer is sad but when you kill others that turns the boat over i would feel sorry for him if yes he had just commited succide because he had a hard life but he killed people and that is unforgivableif he was not protecting someone than he desertvbe to die for taking someone elses chance at happiness their entire life away from them. He couldnt just shoot himself he had to take 10 othrs with him that was pure selfishness thats ten people who may not of found christ yet 10 people going to hell because he killed them before they had a chance to find the word. Im not saying that they all arte but there is no way to know who were christians but *I do know they all werent. If he had not died from this attack he broght on these people I would go and beat him in the face myself. Their is other ways to handle bulling I shouold know I got angry at people I got in a lot of fights but there is one thing i did know I never had an inkling desire to kill any of them. Only people who kill deserve to die.

Sorry for this letter but things like this takes the worst out of me.