Teen Gunman kills grandparents, seven others in US
Pakistan Times Monitoring Report

REDBY, Minnesota (US): A heavily armed teen accused of killing his grandparents smiled and waved as he gunned down seven other people at a Minnesota school, asking one of his victims whether he believed in God, witnesses said. The boy later killed himself.

Reggie Graves, a student at Red Lake High School, said he was watching a movie about Shakespeare in class on Monday when he heard the gunman blast his way past the metal detector at the school’s entrance, killing a guard. Then, in a nearby classroom, he heard the gunman say something to his friend Ryan: "He asked Ryan if he believed in God," Graves said. "And then he shot him."

Details

The death toll at the Red Lake Indian Reservation in far northern Minnesota made it the nation’s worst school shooting since the rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in April 1999 that left 12 students and a teacher, plus the two teen gunmen, dead.
The Victims

The victims included the gunman’s grandfather; the grandfather’s wife; a school security guard; a teacher; and five other students. At least 14 others were wounded, officials said. "There’s not a soul that will go untouched by the tragic loss that we’ve experienced here," Floyd Jourdain Jr, chairman of the Red Lake Chippewa Tribe, told WCCO-TV of Minneapolis on Tuesday. Police said the gunman killed himself after exchanging fire with officers. Red Lake Fire Director Roman Stately said the gunman had two handguns and a shotgun.

"We ask Minnesotans to help comfort the families and friends of the victims who are suffering unimaginable pain by extending prayers and expressions of support," Governor Tim Pawlenty said. The shooter was Jeff Weise, a 17-year-old student who had been placed in the school’s Homebound programme for some violation of policy, said school board member Kathryn Beaulieu.

Students in that programme stay at home and are tutored by a traveling teacher. Beaulieu said she didn’t know what Weise’s violation was, and wouldn’t be allowed to reveal it if she did. Beaulieu said school was canceled Tuesday, but plans hadn’t been made for the rest of the week.

During the rampage, teachers herded students from one room to another, trying to move away from the sound of the shooting, said Graves, 14. He said some students crouched under desks. Some pleaded with the gunman to stop. "You could hear a girl saying, ‘No, Jeff, quit, quit. Leave me alone. What are you doing?"" Sondra Hegstrom told The Pioneer of Bemidji. Student Ashley Morrison said she heard shots, then saw the gunman’s face peering though a door window of a classroom where she was hiding with several other students.

After banging at the door, the shooter walked away and she heard more shots, she said. "I can’t even count how many gunshots you heard, there was over 20. ... There were people screaming, and they made us get behind the desk," she said.

FBI Spokesman

FBI spokesman Paul McCabe said the gunman exchanged gunfire with Red Lake police in a hallway, then retreated to a classroom, where he was believed to have shot himself. All of the dead students were found in one room, including the teen believed to be the shooter.

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.●