Damn! Another school shooting spree

“It's happened again. An Indian reservation high school in northern Minnesota.

Why??????

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7259823/>1=6305”

“Last update: March 21, 2005 at 10:10 PM
10 dead in Red Lake shootings
Richard Meryhew, Larry Oakes and Howie Padilla, Star Tribune
March 22, 2005 REDLAKE0322

RED LAKE, MINN. -- A teenage boy armed with a shotgun and two handguns walked into Red Lake High School on Monday afternoon and opened fire, killing five students, a teacher and a security guard before turning the gun on himself, authorities and witnesses said Monday.

The boy, who had not been identified as this edition of the Star Tribune went to press, apparently shot and killed his grandfather -- a local police officer -- and his grandfather's girlfriend minutes before heading to the school, sources said Monday night.

About 12 other people at the school were wounded, said Paul McCabe, a special agent for the FBI in Minneapolis.

The killing spree was the second deadliest at a school in the United States. Only the 1999 killings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in which 15 people were killed and 23 were wounded, were deadlier.

"There's been a terrible tragedy up in Red Lake," McCabe said at a press briefing Monday night at FBI headquarters in Minneapolis. "All our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims."

The only victim identified when this edition of the Star Tribune went to press was Neva Rogers, 62, a teacher at the school for five or six years. That information was provided by Okey Spears, her partner.

McCabe shared few details of the shooting and declined to identify victims or the shooter. He said he could not speculate on a motive.

Red Lake Indian Reservation is in northern Minnesota, about 260 miles from the Twin Cities. The city of Red Lake, where the shootings took place, is the most populated area of the remote reservation.

McCabe said he was unwilling to provide additional detail until agents were able to interview witnesses and complete their investigation.

"This is a fluid investigation," McCabe said. "Right now there is still a lot of work to do. We're still clearing the school as a safety precaution even though we believe the shooter is among the dead."

Authorities said Monday that they were confident that this was the case. "We're not looking for any other suspects," said Pat Mills, director of the Red Lake public safety department.

Said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, "We know who he is and we know he is deceased."

The school shootings are by far the deadliest in Minnesota's history, coming about 1½ years after two classmates were shot and killed in a hallway at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minn.

Because Red Lake High School is on an Indian reservation, it falls under federal jurisdiction. Nevertheless, officials from the state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension crime lab will meet with FBI agents, who plan to escort them to the school, Smith said.

Authorities and witnesses said the shootings occurred about 2 p.m. at the high school.

In addition to the students, a female teacher and a male security guard also were killed at the school, McCabe said

Tribal fire marshal Roman Stately told several TV stations that the boy apparently shot the other two victims before heading to the school.

Stately said the boy may have gotten the guns from his grandfather, who was a longtime police officer on the reservation.

"After he shot a security guard, he walked down the hallway shooting and went into a classroom where he shot a teacher and more students," Stately said.

A student's account

After the boy shot himself, Stately said, scores of students were moved to a nearby building that is part of the tribal government complex. The school has an enrollment of about 250.

Justin Jourdain, a student, said Monday night that when he heard the booms ring out through the high school, he thought something had fallen in the hall. Then a panicked janitor came in, telling the students to stay in the classroom.

"Someone's shooting," the janitor said.

The booms continued and grew louder as they closed in on the room. Jourdain and about 25 classmates took refuge in a small adjacent office.

Jourdain and school superintendent Stewart Desjarlait held the door shut as the gunman entered the room the students had just fled.

"I was holding the door and he fired one shot at the door, but it didn't go through," Jourdain said. "I just heard this loud thud. It was a wooden door and it didn't go through."

Desjarlait called police on Jourdain's cell phone while he held the door. The students were left screaming as the gunman fired shots in the other room, Jourdain said. It wasn't until 25 minutes later that they felt safe enough to leave their refuge.

As the students left the school, Jourdain said he peeked inside the classroom, where Ojibwe cultural studies are taught. The blood and broken glass throughout the room told the tale of the afternoon's tragedy.

"It's an awful situation," said tribal treasurer Darrell Seki. "We see things like this happen outside the reservation, but now it's happened here in our home."

Red Lake High School principal Chris Dunshee called his wife, Cathy, shortly after the shootings to let her know he was OK.

"That was a relief," she said. "He didn't want to tell me any details."

Confusion, concern

American Indian Movement leader Clyde Bellecourt said he spoke Monday afternoon with several family members on the reservation and said initial accounts of the shooting were unconfirmed and confusing.

"Nobody has a clear idea of what happened," he said. "The first report was that a student drove his car right into the school building, got out and shot a guard. ... A grandmother of one of the students called to say her grandson was shot. She was crying the whole time."

Audrey Thayer, who lives in Bemidji and works as a researcher for the American Civil Liberties Union's Minnesota chapter, said the reservation was locked down by police with roadblocks.

Monday night, reporters were being allowed onto the reservation with escorts from law enforcement agencies in the area. Otherwise, the main highways were shut down to traffic by the FBI and Red Lake tribal police.

A spokesman with the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office said two highways leading into the reservation had been blocked off by tribal police and the FBI.

As word of the shootings spread across the region Monday, friends and relatives of those living on the reservation frantically began working cell phones hoping to find out more.

In a hallway at the State Capitol, two women from the reservation town of Ponemah -- LuAnn Crowe, head of the tribal elections committee at Red Lake, and Donna Whitefeather -- had just finished testifying on behalf of a bill that would make it harder for partisan poll watchers to challenge voters and intimidate them or prevent them from voting.

That had been a problem on the reservation last November, they said.

As the women emerged from the hearing, they were informed of the killings and immediately began making calls, trying to put together a list of the dead and injured.

Crowe had a daughter and nephew at the school.

Suddenly, Whitefeather announced with panic, that Lance Crowe, the ninth-grade nephew, was dead.

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" Crowe wailed.

Minutes later, however, the news was better.

The boy had been shot, but he wasn't dead.

Lance Crowe was shot in the chest; the bullet exited through his stomach. He also was hit in the hand. His injuries are not considered life threatening, according to LuAnn Crowe.

LuAnn Crowe also said that her nephew told his mother that he saw the gunman shoot himself.

As the shooter moved away, another nephew, Dallas Crowe, an 11th-grader, took Lance by the hand and both ran off.

LuAnn Crowe also learned that her daughter's boyfriend, Cody Thunder, a 10th-grader, had been shot in the hip but is expected to live.

Staff writers Matt McKinney, Chuck Haga, Dane Smith and Robert Franklin contributed to this story.”

“Time to dig out my .pdf copy of Gun Facts in anticipation of destroying the anti's anti-gun fallacies.”

“So... no one cares about kids shooting kids? Or is it cuz it's an Indian reservation and not some middle class to upscale high school?

Or am I on everyone's "ignore" list? ;-|

Just got this press release in:

MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO NEWS TO AIR ONE-HOUR RADIO SPECIAL
“WHAT HAPPENED AT RED LAKE?”

EXPLORING NEW DETAILS IN MONDAY’S TRAGIC SCHOOL SHOOTING IN NORTHERN MINNESOTA

SPECIAL WILL AIR ON PUBLIC RADIO STATIONS NATIONWIDE FRIDAY
 
WHAT:  Minnesota Public Radio News, from American Public Media, has produced a national radio special about the Red Lake Indian reservation shooting in northern Minnesota, a tragedy that reverberated far beyond the boundaries of Red Lake.  The hour-long special will detail the chronology of the shooting, what’s known about the student who killed nine people and himself, and what makes this sovereign Indian community different from other communities.  The special will also examine Monday’s shooting within the context of other school shootings.
 
REPORT TO INCLUDE INTERVIEWS WITH:
· Members of Red Lake Indian Reservation community
· Emergency personnel who responded to the scene
· Grief counselors who have dealt with similar situations
 
WHO: The Minnesota Public Radio News special, from American Public Media, will be produced by Catherine Winter of the documentary unit American RadioWorks.  Minnesota Public Radio News’ Cathy Wurzer will host the program.

TUNE-IN:  The special will air on Minnesota Public Radio's news and information stations Noon to 1 p.m. Friday, March 25, during Midday, and at 10-11p.m. Saturday, March 26, and can be heard on all Minnesota Public Radio news and information stations, including KNOW 91.1 FM in the Twin Cities.”

“It just sucks. I don't know if it's just that today's kids see thug shootings and the like glorified in video, if it's the games they play on thier X-boxes where there's always a reset button to bail you out, or if adults have really dropped the ball in dealing with thier own kids. Set them down in front of whatever multi-media and let it babysit them for 18 years. I think parents today are burned out keeping up with the Jonses' and just give the kids whatever they want to keep them happy and quiet.

Probably a little of all the above. When I was a kid and saw something dead on the road, I knew dead was dead and it wasn't coming back. I learned to shoot a .22 by the time I was about 5 and taught proper saftey and respect for the gun and for all life. I knew that once you pulled the trigger, there was no calling it back.

Maybe this is why I put on a backpack and just get the heck out of Dodge whenever possible.”

“Lizs, what can anyone say?”