www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/22/school.shooting -> www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/22/school.shooting/
RED LAKE, Minnesota (CNN) -- A student authorities say killed seven p eople at his Minnesota high school first shot his grandfather and the ma n's girlfriend before taking his police-issued weapon, bulletproof vest and squad car to Red Lake Senior High School. FBI agents would not confirm reports that Weise had posted comments on a neo-Nazi Web site. But a person who posted on the site of the Libertarian National Socialist Green Party identified himself as "Jeff Weise, from the Red Lake 'India n' Reservation." The writer said he disliked interracial mixing among th e American Indians on the reservation where he lived. Federal investigators, however, said that while the postings may provide clues to the rampage, it was premature Tuesday to speculate on a motive. The shootings at the school appeared to be random, Tabman said. He said authorities believe Weise stole his grandfather's police-issued p istol and a shotgun, as well as a gunbelt and vest. As Weise entered the school through a doorway with a metal detector, he w as confronted by 28-year-old Derrick Brun, an unarmed guard. Weise shot Brun to death before proceeding into the school, Tabman said. A videotap e shows Weise in a hallway, but doesn't capture any of the shootings, he said. Weise fired shots toward 62-year-old teacher Neva Winnecoup Rogers, as we ll as some students, who fled into a classroom, Tabman said. He pursued them and opened fire, killing Rogers and "a number" of students, then "c ontinued to roam through the school, firing randomly." Four police officers entered, and Weise fired on them as well, Tabman sai d At least one officer returned fire, but it was unknown whether Weise was wounded. Shortly afterward, Weise went back into the classroom and s hot himself in the head, he said. In all, Tabman said, Weise spent "less than 10 minutes" inside the school , firing many rounds: "There was a lot of damage." According to Tabman, Weise shot and killed five students -- Thurlene Stil lday, 15; Chase Lussier, 15, Chanelle Rosebear, 15, Alicia Spike, 14, Dw ayne Lewis, 15. Police do not know how much earlier Lussier and Sigana were killed. FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe would not say if Chase Lussier was related to Daryl Lussier. The death toll made it the nation's worst school shooting since April 199 9, when two students killed 12 classmates, a teacher and then themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
Full story) Authorities said Weise did not live with Daryl Lussier, but they would no t release where he was living. Counseling was being offered to tribe members, said Floyd Jourdain, chairman of the Red Lake Ojibwa Nation. "We have never seen anything like this in the history of our tribe. Without a doubt, these are some of the darkest days for our people." About 5,000 members of the Ojibwa tribe live on the reservation. The shootings occurred about 3 pm (4 pm ET) in Red Lake Senior High S chool, a school of about 300 students located on a sovereign Indian rese rvation near the Canadian border about 240 miles north of the Twin Citie s Seven wounded In addition to the fatalities, seven people were injured, the FBI said Tu esday, and five remained hospitalized. Six of the wounded -- all males younger than 18 -- were taken to North Co unty Regional Hospital in nearby Bemidji, Minnesota, by ambulance, arriv ing within a half-hour, hospital spokeswoman Sherri Birkeland said Tuesd ay. Red Lake Fatalities Derrick Brun, 28 Dwayne Lewis, 15 Chase Lussier, 15 Daryl Lussier, 58 Neva Winnecoup Rogers, 62 Chanelle Rosebear, 15 Michelle Sigana, 32 Alicia Spike, 14 Thurlene Stillday, 15 GUNMAN: Jeff Weise, 16 One died in the hospital emergency room from a gunshot wound to the head, and two others -- one with a gunshot wound to the head, a second with a gunshot wound to the face -- were flown to a hospital in Fargo, North D akota, she said. One of those required neurosurgery and the other facial surgery, both of which are offered in Fargo, said Dr. The other three were all admitted to North County, Birkeland said. Two had been shot in the chest and on e had a hip injury. The head wounds were at close range, said Tim Hall, emergency nursing dir ector at the hospital. The writer of those messages assumed two user names: NativeNazi and "Tode sengel," which means "Angel of Death" in German. "I stumbled across the site in my study of the Third Reich as well as Naz ism," says a March 2004 post. "I guess I've always carried a natural adm iration for Hitler and his ideals, and his courage to take on larger nat ions." Another 2004 posting says, "As a result of cultural dominance and interra cial mixing, there is barely any full-blooded Natives left. Where I live , less than 1 percent of all the people on the reservation can speak the ir own language." "Under a National Socialist government, things for us would improve vastl y," it said. It's hard though, being a Nativ e American National Socialist, people are so misinformed, ignorant and c lose minded, it makes your life a living hell." The group issued a statement on its site Tuesday confirming that Weise po sted the messages. refused to wring hand s over a 'tragedy,' instead pointing out that such events are to be expe cted when thinking people are crammed into an unthinking, irrational mod ern society," it said. NativeNazi said he was a member of the Ojibwa tribe and "both my parents were Native American, though from what I understand I also have a little German, a little Irish and a little French Canadian in my blood as well ." The idea of Weise's joining a neo-Nazi group is not as surprising as it m ay seem, said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama. "Believe it or not, we run across this all the time," he told CNN. "We've found Jewish Nazis, gay Nazis, blacks who wanted to be white supremacis ts. The reason it isn't so unusual -- these are powerless people to whom images of powerful people are appealing." Todesengel said in a May 2004 posting: "Because of my size and appearance , people don't give me as much trouble as they would if I looked weak." "I'll defend myself if someone tries something but other than that I'm a peaceful person." The last posting was made in August 2004, according to an archive search.
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