Witnesses: Teen Smiled As He Gunned Down 7
By JOSHUA FREED, AP from the Chicago Tribune on line March 22, 2005
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.
Some of the victims were shot at close range, medical officials said.
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, where an unarmed guard was killed.
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.
At least three of the victims were shot in the head at close range, said officials at North Country Regional Hospital in nearby Bemidji.
One of those victims died and the other two were transferred to the Fargo hospital.
Three victims remained at North Country Regional in noncritical condition.
"I think there was an intent to kill," Tim Hall, the hospital's emergency nursing director, said at a morning news conference.
"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.
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
Other fatal shootings at U.S. schools
By The Associated Press
Some other fatal school shootings:
Sept. 24, 2003: Two students -- Aaron Rollins, 17, and Seth Bartell, 14 -- were fatally shot at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minn.
Fellow student John Jason McLaughlin, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, awaits trial in the case.
March 5, 2001: Charles "Andy" Williams, 15, killed two fellow students and wounded 13 others at Santana High School in Santee, Calif., in San Diego County.
Williams was sentenced to 50-years-to-life in prison.
May 26, 2000: 13-year-old honor student Nathaniel Brazill killed his English teacher, Barry Grunow, on last day of classes in Lake Worth, Fla. after the teacher refused to let him talk with two girls in his classroom.
He was convicted of second-degree murder and is serving a 28-year sentence
Feb. 29, 2000: Six-year-old boy shot and killed 6-year-old classmate at Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Mich.
Because of his age, the boy was not charged.
Nov. 19, 1999: 13-year-old girl shot in the head in school at Deming, N.M., and died the next day.
A 12-year-old boy later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to at least two years in juvenile prison.
Apr. 20, 1999: Students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 23 before killing themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
May 21, 1998: Two teenagers were killed and more than 20 people hurt when a teenage boy opened fire at a high school in Springfield, Ore., after killing his parents.
Kip Kinkel, 17, was sentenced to nearly 112 years in prison.
May 19, 1998: Three days before his graduation, Jacob Davis, an 18-year-old honor student, opened fire at a high school in Fayetteville, Tenn., killing a classmate who was dating his ex-girlfriend.
Davis was later sentenced to life in prison.
April 24, 1998: Andrew Wurst, 15, opened fire at an eighth-grade dance in Edinboro, Pa., killing a science teacher.
The boy pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and other charges and is serving 30 to 60 years in prison.
March 24, 1998: Two boys, 11 and 13, fired on their Jonesboro, Ark., middle school from nearby woods, killing four girls and a teacher and wounding 10 others.
Both boys were later convicted of murder and can be held until age 21.
Dec. 1, 1997: Three students were killed and five wounded at Heath High School in West Paducah, Ky.
Michael Carneal, 14-year-old, later pleaded guilty but mentally ill to murder and is serving life in prison.
Oct. 1, 1997: Sixteen-year-old Luke Woodham of Pearl, Miss., fatally shot two students to death and wounded seven others after stabbing his mother to death.
He was sentenced the following year to three life sentences plus 140 years.
Feb. 19, 1997: A 16-year-old boy took a shotgun and a bag of shells to school in Bethel, Alaska, and killed the principal and a student and injured two others.
Evan Ramsey is serving a 210-year sentence.
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