Jeffrey Weise (August 8, 1988 – March 21, 2005) was a high school student of Red Lake, Minnesota responsible for the Red Lake High School massacre, a school shooting in which he killed nine people and injured more than a dozen others before committing suicide. He left many postings across the World Wide Web,
such as nazi.org offering an unusual level of public insight into his thoughts and the hardships in his life that led to his depression and fascination with dark imagery in the months and years prior to the shootings.
Weise was a Chippewa (Ojibwa) Native American who lived on the Red Lake reservation in north-central Minnesota with his grandfather, Red Lake Police Department officer Daryl "Dash" Lussier, Sr. Weise's father, Daryl "Baby Dash" Lussier, Jr., had committed suicide in July 1997 after a day-long police standoff. The senior Lussier had attempted to intervene in that event, but was unable to bring the standoff to a peaceful end.
Joanne Weise, Jeff's mother, alleged to be a heavy drinker, suffered brain damage in a 1999 alcohol-related car accident. As a result, she was forced to live in a nursing home in Minneapolis as of 2005. Jeff had been living in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area with his mother and two aunts, but was forced to move back to the reservation after the accident happened.
Weise expressed frustration with being forced back to the Red Lake region and was considered an outsider by many there. Troublesome behavior eventually led the school to put him in a home schooling program in 2004. He was apparently taking medication for depression and was seeing a therapist. He also apparently inflicted injuries upon himself and, according to a schoolmate, attempted suicide in early 2005.
On March 21, Weise killed at least nine people, including his grandfather, his grandfather's partner, a teacher and a security guard. Seven others were wounded. After briefly exchanging fire with police officers, Weise committed suicide.
The incident apparently began at home in the afternoon when Weise allegedly killed his 58-year-old grandfather and Lussier's 32-year-old companion, Michelle Sigana. Weise then drove a patrol vehicle, a truck or SUV believed to be his grandfather's, to the school, propelling it into the building at around 3:00 p.m. CST. Weise is said to have used two handguns and a shotgun that belonged to his grandfather to commit the shootings. He was also wearing a reservation police issued bulletproof vest, likely taken from the stolen reservation police patrol vehicle.
Weise and the Internet
Weise allegedly had a history of trouble at the school, including fist-fights. Although no clear motive has been attributed to Weise's actions yet, he was described as a loner, who was bullied – possibly due to his appearance. He was known to wear a dark trench coat to school all year round; he was also known to have a notebook into which he drew what has been described as "evil and dark... stuff." [1].
Weise posted frequently on Internet boards dealing with the subject of zombies, under the pseudonym "Blades11." In a short story he published in late 2003/early 2004, titled "Surviving the Dead," he includes a detailed description of a school massacre from a victim's perspective, combining it with the subject of zombies. The story is bloody and crude in content and spelling, but the language style is articulate beyond his age at the time.
Weise also created violent Flash animations and posted them on the Internet (including Newgrounds) using the alias "Regret." One animation entitled "Target Practice", depicts an individual who shoots three people with an assault rifle, blows up a police car with a grenade, then shoots a Ku Klux Klan member. It ends when the character uses a handgun to shoot himself in the head. The animation is accompanied by the sounds of gunfire. [2]
Weise is also believed to have posted 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. On one occasion, he fought with a pupil whom he referred to as a "Communist." He also alleged that the school was warned that someone was going to "shoot up" the school on April 20, the birthday of Adolf Hitler and the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, and that the school authorities "pinned" the threat on him.
In one post, dated July 13, 2004, he claimed:
"As a result of cultural dominance and interracial mixing there is barely any full blooded Natives left. Where I live less than 1% of all the people on the Reservation can speak their own language, and among the youth wanting to be black has run rampant...Under a National Socialist government, things for us would improve vastly… and that is why I am pro-Nazi." [3]
One post read: "I try not to be aggressive in most situations, I'll use force if I have to, but I'm not about to go out and pick a fight. I'm mostly defensive, I'll defend myself if someone tries something but other than that I'm a peaceful person." The posts were dated 10 months prior to the shooting, and as such it is not yet known if they are entirely relevant in understanding Weise's state of mind.
A LiveJournal account apparently created by Weise contained just three entries from December 2004 through January 2005. He chose three icons for the account: one of the band Nirvana prominently featuring Kurt Cobain, one with the logo for the band Rammstein, and another of himself. The weblog was customized to be rendered in black and white, and Weise expressed dark feelings in his few writings. He described himself on his user info page as "nothin' but your average Native American stoner" and mentioned that he used marijuana.
Aftermath
March 25, 2005: Armed security guards were posted at metal detector entrances of the school. The Red Lake tribe was outraged that President Bush had failed to send timely condolences. The tribe received official condolences three days after the shooting.
March 29, 2005: Louis Jourdain , 16 years of age, son of Floyd "Buck" Jourdain Jr., was accused of assisting in the planning of the Red Lake high school shooting, and was arrested on the suspicion of conspiracy to murder. At least a dozen other students were believed to have heard of the attack prior to its occurrence. The school was shut down. High school computers were seized. A makeshift memorial was set up in front of the school, made up of flowers, dolls, cards and candles.
April 9, 2005: Red Lake High School was searched after police received information that guns still remained in the school, ostensibly placed there by Jeff Weise.
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