3/22/2005: 10 dead in Minnesota school shooting
Yesterday high school student Jeff Weise shot and killed his grandfather (a long-time policeman) and the grandfather's girlfriend, then drove his grandfather's police car to Red Lake High School where he shot and killed 5 students, a teacher, a security guard, and himself. Several other students were injured.
Keyhole location of the school (low resolution area)
Updates:
March 23 - March 24 - March 25 - March 29 - April 11
The school of 300+ students is on the Red Lake Reservation. About 5,000 people live on the res, most of them Chippewa (Ojibwe). Weise, a Native American, had talked about his plans to do something like this, and he had also posted on neo-nazi boards that he admired Hitler.
We already have the requisite comparisons ("the worst school shooting since Columbine" and "the second school shooting in Minnesota in recent years") and the requisite "evil" music reference ("friends say he listened to goth music like Marilyn Manson"). Soon enough we'll have the requisite sighing questions "How can this happen??" Sometimes you just have to look a bit further to find out some of the why's..
"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 area] is home to one of the poorest tribes in the state."
"Nearly 39 percent of the families on the reservation live below the poverty line. Because the reservation is so remote, the tribe has largely missed out on the lucrative casino revenues that some other Minnesota tribes enjoy."
"The school scored second-lowest out of all Minnesota schools last year on tests for 11th-grade math and third-lowest for 10th-grade reading."
These things are probably not unrelated to this tragedy, and while they may provide some explanation that will likely be overlooked by the tsk-tsk'ers, that doesn't make it any less tragic that these things can and do happen. Sadly, I think they'll continue to happen more and more; and I hate to say it, but I also think that the remote location and poverty of this area - especially compared to affluent Littletown, CO - and the fact that it was on a reservation, will give this story short shrift in the mainstream media.
My condolences go out to the families, the students, and the community.. I am so sorry for your losses.
Red Lake Net News
Student photo essays from Red Lake High School's website
Red Lake Tribal Council Powwow photo below from this site
