| Red Lake massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Red Lake, Minnesota, United States |
| Date | March 21, 2005 2:49–2:58 p.m. (UTC-5) |
| Target | Red Lake Senior High School |
| Attack type | School shooting, 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 spree killing 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.
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At noon, Weise retrieved a .22 caliber pistol from his bedroom, and fatally shot his paternal grandfather, Daryl Lussier, Sr.(a Sergeant with the Red Lake Police Department), two times in the head and ten times in the chest as he was sleeping. It is not known how Weise obtained the pistol, but according to his friends, it is believed he may have possessed it for as long as one year. 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 fatally shot Michelle Leigh Sigana, Lussier's girlfriend, two times in the head as she was carrying laundry up the stairs.
Weise then drove his grandfather's squad car to Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake, arriving at around 2:45 p.m. Central Standard Time (19:45 UTC). As he entered the school through the main entrance, he encountered two unarmed security guards who were manning a metal detector. Weise shot and killed security guard Derrick Brun, while the other security guard managed to escape without injury. Weise then proceeded through the main corridor of the school. He later began shooting into an English classroom,[1] killing three students and one teacher, and wounding three students. Jeffrey May, a 16-year-old sophomore, attempled to wrestle Weise inside the classroom, and had managed to stab him in the stomach with a pencil.[2] This allowed students to evacuate the classroom to safety, however Weise retaliated by shooting May two times in the neck and one time in the jaw, leaving him injured, though not fatally. Another student, Chase Lussier (no relation to Daryl Lussier), was rumored to have jumped in the line of a shotgun blast to save another student.[3]
Witnesses say Weise smiled as he was shooting at people. One witness said that he asked a student if he believed in God,[1] a link commonly believed to be reminiscent of the events that took place during the Columbine High School massacre.
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 for about four minutes. Weise eventually retreated to a vacant classroom after sustaining one gunshot wound to the abdomen and one to the right arm.[4] None of the officers were injured.[1] Weise then lay against a wall in the classroom, put the shotgun barrel in his mouth, and fired, instantly killing himself.
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.
Weise grew up in a family which suffered troubles and parental separations. His parents were an unmarried couple who had separated before he was born. He wrote that his mother was an alcoholic who was sometimes abusive [12] His mother Joane Weise started dating Timothy Troy DesJarlait in 1992 and married with him in 1998. Jeffrey attended elementary school in Shakopee, MN. In 1997, Jeffrey's father Daryl Lussier, Jr. committed suicide via shotgun wound to the head, after a two-day standoff with the Red Lake Police Department in Red Lake. In 1999, Joanne Weise suffered severe brain damage in a car accident and was committed to a nursing home.[13] Consequently, Jeff was placed in the care of his paternal grandmother Shelda Lussier in Red Lake. His mother divorced in February 2000. Jeffrey expressed frustration with living in Red Lake, and believed that his life was beyond his control. He attempted suicide in May 2004. He started taking Prozac in 2004. His medication dosage had been increased a week before the shooting, for 60 mg a day of Prozac.[14]
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 the flash website Newgrounds, using the alias "Regret". One animation entitled Target Practice, depicts an individual who murders three people with an assault rifle, 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 kills a man by eating his head (that scene is shown for less than a second).[15]
Weise 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.
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.