2005 Red Lake shootings
The 2005 Red Lake shootings was a spree shooting that occurred on March 21, 2005, at two locations on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota, United States. That afternoon at 2:00 p.m., 16-year-old Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend at their lakeside home. After taking his grandfather's police weapons and bulletproof vest, Weise drove his grandfather's police vehicle to Red Lake Senior High School, where he had been a student some months before.
Weise shot and killed seven people at the school and wounded at least 9 others. The dead included an unarmed security guard at the entrance of the school, a teacher, and five students. After the police arrived, Weise exchanged gunfire with them. After being wounded, he committed suicide inside of a classroom. At the time it was the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the Columbine High School massacre but was eventually surpassed by the Virginia Tech Shooting in 2007. It remains the deadliest school shooting in Minnesota history.
Background
At the time of the shooting, by some accounts, Jeff Weise was living with his paternal grandfather, Daryl Lussier Sr., a sergeant with the Red Lake Police Department, run by the Ojibwe tribal government at the Red Lake Indian Reservation. The household included his grandfather's 32-year-old girlfriend, Michelle Leigh Sigana.The reservation of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe is in northwest Minnesota and is one of two nationally that are "closed"; only Ojibwe tribal members may live and own land there. Its residents suffer high rates of unemployment, violence, and suicide. Housing is poor, and many students do not finish high school. Work opportunities are limited on the reservation, which has a population of more than 5,000. A study in 2004 found that a high proportion of students in high school had thought of suicide. The nearest grocery stores are away from Red Lake in Bemidji.
Shootings
Lakeside Home shooting
On the day of the shootings, at 2:47 p.m., Weise retrieved a.22 caliber Ruger MKII pistol from his bedroom and fatally shot his grandfather, Daryl Lussier Sr., as he was sleeping; he shot him two times in the head and ten times in the chest. According to Weise's friends, the teenager may have had the gun for as long as a year. He took Lussier's two police-issue weapons, a.40 caliber Glock 22 pistol and a 12 gauge Remington 870 pump-action shotgun, a gun belt and a bulletproof vest. Weise then fatally shot Michelle Sigana, his grandfather's girlfriend, two times in the head as she carried laundry up the stairs.Red Lake High School shooting
Weise then drove his grandfather's squad car to Red Lake Senior High School where he arrived two minutes later at 2:49 p.m. and rammed the vehicle into the school building. As he entered the school through the main entrance, he encountered two unarmed security guards manning a metal detector. Weise shot and killed security guard Derrick Brun with the shotgun, while the other security guard, Leann Grant, escaped without injury, warning students and teachers to take cover. Weise proceeded into the main corridor of the school and wounded English teacher Neva Rogers who was pushing a computer cart and conversing with students in the hallway. The students scattered and Rogers ran to knock on Missy Dodd's classroom door. She was let in and initiated lockdown procedures, turning off lights, locking the door, and ushering the students under the tables.Not long after Neva Rogers entered Missy Dodd's room, at 2:51 p.m., Weise shot out the glass panel next to the classroom door, reached his arm through, unlocked the door, and stepped into Dodd's study hall. There were fifteen students and three adults in the room. Neva Rogers began to pray, crying "God be with us!" Weise shot her in the head several times, killing her instantly.
Weise then told students, "If any of you believe in God, now would be a good time to call in a favor." Weise approached a group of students, asking, "Do you guys believe in God?" One student, Chon'gai'la Morris replied no, and his life was spared. The rest of the group said nothing, and as a result were shot at. Weise then turned and asked other students the same question; those who replied in the affirmative or hesitated to answer were wounded or killed.
Jeffrey May, a 16-year-old sophomore, tried to wrestle Weise inside the classroom and stabbed him in the stomach with a pencil. May's diversion allowed students to flee the classroom to safety, but Weise shot him two times in the neck and once in the jaw, leaving him seriously injured. Weise left Dodd's room a few minutes later to search for more targets. Three students and one teacher lay dead in the class, five more students had been hurt. Weise wandered through the halls and managed to enter one more classroom, where he wounded two more students. A girl hiding inside this classroom heard, the shooter ask, "Do you believe in God?" This time, he did not wait for answers and fired immediately after posing the question.
Witnesses said Weise smiled as he was shooting at people. Several survivors claimed that he asked students if they believed in God, shooting them if they answered yes or hesitated to answer. This is believed to have been a reference to a widely publicized, but alleged exchange during the 1999 Columbine High School massacre between perpetrator Eric Harris and victim Rachel Scott, allegedly reported by Richard Castaldo. Weise had also used the screen name "do you believe in god." Ryan Auginash was wounded when he affirmed his faith in Christianity. Lance Crowe was also wounded for refusing to answer.
At around 2:54 p.m., Weise returned to the main entrance, where he wounded two students. Tribal police arrived quickly and engaged him in gunfire. FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe said the shootout lasted for about four minutes. None of the police officers were injured. After being hit three times in the lower back, right leg, and right arm by police gunfire, Weise retreated to the classroom where he had shot and killed the teacher and three students, yelling "I have hostages!" Weise shot and killed two more students who were hiding under tables, before leaning against a wall, putting the shotgun barrel to his chin, and firing, instantly killing himself at 2:58 p.m.
The shootings lasted nine minutes. Weise fired a total of 59 shots during the shooting spree; 14 at his grandfather's home and 45 at the school. He fired 37 rounds from his grandfather's Glock handgun, 14 from his Ruger handgun, and eight from the shotgun.
Victims
A total of ten people, including the perpetrator, died in these events.- Daryl Lussier Sr., 58, police sergeant and Weise's paternal grandfather
- Michelle Sigana, 32, Lussier's girlfriend
- Derrick Brun, 28, security guard
- Neva Rogers, 62, English teacher
- Alicia White, 14, student
- Thurlene Stillday, 15, student
- Chanelle Rosebear, 15, student
- Chase Lussier, 15, student
- Dewayne Lewis, 15, student
- Jeffrey Weise, 16, perpetrator/student
Perpetrator
In 1992, his mother began dating a man who allegedly also abused Jeff. After having two children, the couple married on June 27, 1998. Weise moved around often because of his mother, and attended several different schools during his adolescence. In 2002, Weise was forced to repeat the eighth grade because of failing grades and truancy; he enrolled in a special education program at the school called the Learning Center. Beginning in middle school, Weise was frequently taunted and bullied by other students.
In 1997, when Weise was eight years old, his father died by suicide at the age of 32; he shot himself with a shotgun after a days-long standoff with Red Lake tribal police. Weise's grandfather, Daryl Lussier Sr., was a sergeant with the tribal police and involved in the standoff. Two years later, his mother was in an alcohol-related car accident and suffered severe brain damage. She had to be committed to a nursing home for rehabilitation. Weise was placed in the custody of his paternal grandmother, having to leave Minneapolis, where he had lived most of his life, to live with her and other paternal relatives on the Red Lake reservation.
Weise became close to his paternal grandfather and his younger companion, Michelle Sigana, who had given him his own room with them. The family said he had a good relationship with both. In 2000, his mother and her husband separated; they completed the divorce in May 2004. Their custody arrangements covered only the children they had together, and not Weise. By 2003, his mother had moved to an assisted-living facility; she had recovered enough from her accident to work part-time, and had regained speech. Weise chose to stay with his grandmother rather than rejoin his mother and move again.
In September 2003, Weise enrolled at Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake. Teachers and fellow students remembered him as withdrawn, and he reportedly had a history of troublesome behavior. At times he was referred to be homeschooled. His grandmother said he had not been in school for five weeks before the shooting. His social studies teacher Wanda Baxter recalled, " was a good listener like any other ordinary student. He was quiet but never a troublemaker." Another teacher described Weise as "a pretty bright kid, but... lazy when it came to school." Several students remembered Weise as being non-violent. A close friend of Weise described him as "the only one I talked to about my problems. He was trustworthy, and he was always capable of understanding what I was going through", and other students also said they could talk to him.