TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: Red Lake High School

  • More on the Red Lake lawsuit

    More on the Red Lake lawsuit

    ‘No amount of money will bring them back’:

    Some more interesting lawyer-related details about the Red Lake lawsuit…

    The deal ends the district’s financial liability for the shootings because state law caps legal claims against school districts at $1 million.

    But families and survivors could sue other parties. Attorneys representing the 27 people involved in the school settlement said they are looking at their options.

    “Our investigation into the circumstances of the shooting continues as we speak,” said Minneapolis attorney Philip Sieff, who represented 14 people in the settlement. “This is the end of the families’ claims against the Red Lake School District but not the end of their claims in general over the shooting.”

    Who the hell else can they possibly sue? Jeff Weise’s father is dead, and his mother is severely disabled. The Jourdain’s? The gun manufacturers?

    The settlement includes families of the five students killed and the seven students injured, and one student who was in the line of fire. It also includes five surviving school workers, the families of the two slain school employees and a relative of the grandfather’s companion.

    I can see a settlement for those who died or were wounded, but there seems to be a lot of extraneous people involved in this lawsuit.

    The Ambulance Chasers are killing personal responsibility in this country.

  • Red Lake lawsuit settled

    Red Lake lawsuit settled

    Families settle lawsuit over Red Lake shootings:

    MINNEAPOLIS – Families of victims in last year’s shootings on the Red Lake Indian Reservation have settled a lawsuit against the school district for $1 million.

    The settlement was to be distributed among 21 families of shooting victims.

    In Philip Sieff, an attorney for the victims’ families, called the settlement “best for everyone because it provides these highly deserving families some compensation for their losses and allows the School District to return all of its focus to education.”

    Personally, I don’t see why the school district was sued. They had metal detectors and they had an armed security guard. Granted, neither of those steps stopped Jeff Weise, but what else was the school supposed to do? Not only that, but now you’re taking money away from the school that’s supposed to educate your children.

    What does this accomplish?

  • New Red Lake suspect in court

    New Red Lake suspect in court

    RED LAKE INCIDENT: Student appears for alleged threats:

    The suspect in the most recent threat against Red Lake High School has appeared in court…

    DULUTH – A Red Lake (Minn.) High School student being held in connection with recent threats at the school where seven people were killed last year appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Duluth, according to a newspaper report.

    The Star Tribune of Minneapolis said the nature of the 10-minute, closed-door hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson was not revealed. The identity of the boy also was not revealed.

    Several members of the boy’s family attended the hearing but did not share details afterward. The boy appeared expressionless as authorities led him from the courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back, the newspaper reported.

    There’s something eerie about the fact that they’re keeping such a tight lid on this.

  • FBI comment on new Red Lake scare

    FBI comment on new Red Lake scare

    Student In Custody For Red Lake High School Threat:

    The FBI is being very tight-lipped about the new scare in Red Lake…

    On Tuesday, FBI Special Agent Michael Tabman announced in a news release, “At the present time, we believe the alleged threat to the Red Lake High School has been neutralized. Because this investigation is ongoing and involves a juvenile, there will be no further comment,” the AP reports.

  • New threat at Red Lake

    New threat at Red Lake

    New threats at Red Lake School:

    Haven’t these kids ever heard the expression “don’t poke the bear”?…

    Officials at Red Lake High School arranged extra security after rumors that a group of students planned an assault at the school, which was the site of an attack last year in which seven people were gunned down.

    The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the situation, reported Tuesday that a ninth-grade student was in custody.

    Minnesota high school violent plot foiled:

    More details…

    RED LAKE, Minn., April 25 (UPI) — Federal officials have foiled a gang-related violent plot at the Red Lake, Minn., high school where seven people were gunned down last year.

    An unidentified ninth-grade boy with no record of behavioral problems was taken into custody late last week, and the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs agents were working at increasing security at the school, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported Tuesday.

    Staff members and students learned of a “hit list” that contained dozens of names, mostly students and a few staff members, the report said.

    If you plan a school attack where people have been previously killed in one, joking or not, the law is going to come down on you like a ton of bricks.

  • Red Lake under lockdown

    Red Lake under lockdown

    FBI assisting Red Lake police in investigation:

    The schools in Red Lake have been under lockdown since Tuesday while the FBI and Red Lake police investigate threats made against the schools…

    Paul McCabe, spokesman for the FBI, said today that the agents are assisting Red Lake police but said he could not comment on the situation. McCabe referred a Herald reporter to the Red Lake police.

    Interim Police Chief Pat Graves said, through a spokeswoman, that he would not comment to the news media about the situation.

    Tribal Chairman Floyd “Buck” Jourdain Jr., is out of town and unavailable for comment, said a tribal spokeswoman.

    A school employee said the schools, including a separate building for kindergarten and Head Start about a mile from the high school and middle school, have been in “lockdown” since Tuesday because of the reported threats.

    Superintendent Stuart Desjarlaits said school was in session today but refused to comment on the reported threats.

    Employees of the school said that reported threats from several students involving violence at the school lead to the lockdown being imposed. The lockdown means students are not allowed to leave the school building during the day, including no recess outdoors for elementary students, an employee said.

    More on this if any more information becomes available.

  • Red Lake survivor honored at NYSE

    Red Lake survivor honored at NYSE

    Red Lake survivor Jeff May rings closing bell :

    Red Lake survivor Jeff May rang the closing bell yesterday at the New York Stock Exchange in honor of being named Reader’s Digest hero of the year.

    May was selected for his actions in the Red Lake school shooting by tackling Jeff Weise and saving at least a dozen people from being shot.

    May was shot in the face by Weise. Jeff May suffered a stroke while recovering from the gunshot. May was selected by the readers of Reader’s Digest in an online poll. His story in Reader’s Digest can be read here.

  • The Myth Spreads Like Cancer III

    The Myth Spreads Like Cancer III

    Schools learn bullying can plant seed for tragedy:

    Yet another article that’s designed to garner sympathy for school shooters and would be school shooters because they were allegedly bullied.

    While, of course, I think bullying is a problem, there’s a big difference between bullying and killing. And like I keep saying, all these Columbine wannabes are taking the focus away from bullying and putting it on identifying would be school shooters.

    Anyway, back to my main point. As usual, the article is rife with inaccuracies…

    The massacre at Columbine High School outside Denver on April 20, 1999, was the deadliest school shooting on record. Two teenagers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who dressed in Goth attire and felt like misfits, went on a rampage that left 13 dead and 24 wounded before killing themselves.

    Wrong. They were not goths, they had plenty of friends, and most importantly, they were bullies themselves. One only needs to go as far as this to learn the truth.

    And secondly…

    For instance, a 16-year-old who went on a rampage that left eight dead at a high school in Red Lake, Minn., a year ago fit the profile. School personnel described him as a loner who wore black and routinely was teased.

    Wrong again. Weise may have been teased, but when you’re a self-proclaimed Nazi you’re kind of inviting it on yourself. Not only that, but I read more than one report that said Weise used to bully kids who listened to rap.

    But hey, let’s not let facts get in the way of “journalism”.

  • A year later, more Red Lake details released

    A year later, more Red Lake details released

    Weise planned a far more lethal assault:

    Anonymous sources within the investigation have revealed to the Pioneer Press that Jeff Weise’s assault on Red Lake High School could have been much deadlier than it already was…

    Jeff Weise, who killed nine people at the Red Lake Indian Reservation before taking his own life, envisioned a higher body count and wanted friends to help him turn his high school into a death trap, a yearlong investigation into the shootings found.

    His original aim was to lead an attack on Red Lake High School when it was sure to be crowded, possibly on prom night or the first day of school, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.

    Weise’s massacre would have targeted the school’s gymnasium as a central “killing zone,” the sources said. Details of Weise’s initial scheme have not been previously disclosed.

    The troubled teenager considered executing his plot on April 20, the birthday of Adolf Hitler, one of the boy’s idols. That date would have marked the anniversary of the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, the deadliest school shooting in American history.

    Weise’s intent was to eclipse that tragedy, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Weise wanted to station armed accomplices at the school’s exits and in main hallways, where those who survived the gym assault would run for safety or escape, the sources said.

    “The plan was to have them picked off like sitting ducks as they came out,” said one of the sources.

    Why Weise chose March 21 to launch his assault in Red Lake remains a mystery.

    What amazes me is the fact that the article states that 39 people knew that Weise had thoughts of shooting up the school, yet none of them thought to go to school officials or law enforcement with that information.

    Remember, kids, it isn’t always “just talk”.

  • Red Lake families meet with U.S. Attorney

    Red Lake families meet with U.S. Attorney

    Prosecutor: Dozens knew school shooter’s plans:

    Family members of the victims of the Red Lake shooting met with U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger today, and some interesting things came to light…

    Nearly 40 people knew that 16-year-old Jeff Weise had planned some sort of violence at Red Lake High School before he went on a rampage, according to family members who met with U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger on Monday.

    Heffelfinger met behind closed doors with those who lost loved ones in the March 21 shooting, when Weise killed nine people before killing himself.

    “It’s horrid. I just got a headache,” said Barbara Brun, who lost her son, Derrick, a security guard, in the shooting. “I wasn’t this angry before I came. I haven’t been this angry since March 21st.”

    Brun said Heffelfinger told those gathered at a hotel here that 39 people knew Weise planned a shooting at the high school, and of those, four or five had direct knowledge. Brun said that Heffelfinger told the group Weise had been talking about the shooting since 2003.

    “Why didn’t someone take him seriously?” she asked.

    39 people knew, and not one person said anything. And some people say that as a society, we’re overreacting to perceived threats of school violence. I’d rather there be an overreaction and save lives than there be no reaction with scores dead.