Preliminary Activities
On March 5, 1999, Joanne Weise suffered severe brain damage when a tractor-trailer crashed into her car on a highway in Minneapolis. She and her cousin Elizabeth May Jourdain, were drinking alcohol and driving. Jourdain's was killed and Joanne had to be committed to a nursing home in Bloomington, Minnesota. Consequently, Jeff was placed in the care of his paternal grandmother, Shelda Lussier in Red Lake. He expressed frustration with living in Red Lake, and believed that his life was beyond his control.
Weise’s depression prompted a suicide attempt in May of 2004. Describing his experience in a post made on the website Above Top Secret, he said:
“I had went through a lot of things in my life that had driven me to a darker path than most choose to take. I split the flesh on my wrist with a box opener, painting the floor of my bedroom with blood I shouldn't have spilt. After sitting there for what seemed like hours (which apparently was only minutes), I had the revelation that this was not the path. It was my division (sic) to seek medical treatment, as on the other hand I could have chose to sit there until enough blood drained from my downward lacerations on my wrists to die.”
Jeffrey was hospitalized in Thief River Falls due to suicidal thoughts. He was hospitalized for 72 hours.
The Weapons
* 40. Caliber Glock 23 pistol
* Ruger 22. Caliber pistol
* Remington 12 gauge shotgun
It is believed he shot off 40 rounds in total.
The Massacre
At noon, Weise retrieved a .22 caliber pistol from his bedroom and fatally shot his paternal grandfather, Daryl Lussier, Sr., who was a Sergeant with the Red Lake Police Department, two times in the head and ten times in the chest as he was sleeping. It is not known how Weise obtained the pistol, but, according to his friends, he may have had it in his possession for as long as one year. Weise then stole Lussier's two police-issue weapons, a .40 caliber Glock 23 pistol, and a Remington 12 gauge pump-action shotgun. He then fatally shot Michelle Leigh Sigana, Lussier's girlfriend, two times in the head, as she was carrying laundry up the stairs.
Weise then drove his grandfather's squad car to Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake, arriving at around 2:45 p.m. As he entered the school through the main entrance, he encountered two unarmed security guards who were operating a metal detector. Weise shot and killed security guard Derrick Brun while the other security guard managed to escape without injury. Weise then proceeded through the main corridor of the school and began shooting into an English classroom, killing three students and one teacher, and wounding three students.
Jeffrey May, a sixteen-year-old sophomore, attempted to wrestle Weise inside the classroom, and managed to stab him in the stomach with a pencil. This allowed students to evacuate the classroom to safety. Weise retaliated, however, by shooting May two times in the neck and one time in the jaw, leaving him injured, but alive. May managed to survive the ordeal. Another student, Chase Lussier, was rumored to have jumped in the line of a shotgun blast to save another student. Witnesses say Weise smiled as he was shooting at people. One witness said that he asked a student if he believed in God, a link commonly believed to be reminiscent of the events that took place during the Columbine High School massacre. At around 2:52 p.m., Weise returned to the main entrance where he killed two students and wounded two others.
FBI special agent Paul McCabe stated Weise engaged in a shoot-out with the police that lasted for about four minutes. Eventually Weise retreated to a vacant classroom after sustaining one gunshot wound to the abdomen and one to the right arm. None of the officers was injured. Weise, lay against a wall in the classroom, then put the shotgun barrel in his mouth, and fired, instantly killing himself.
The following are those who were mindlessly killed in cold blood on March 21, 2005. God bless them:
Daryl Allen Lussier, 58, a police officer and Jeff Weise's grandfather.
Michelle Leigh Sigana, 31, Officer Lussier’s girlfriend.
Derrick Brian Brun, 28, a security guard for Red Lake High School.
Alicia White, 15, student.
Neva Jane Winnecoup-Rogers, 62, English teacher.
Thurlene Marie Stillday, 15, student.
Chanelle Rosebear, 15, student.
Chase Albert Lussier,16, student.
Dewayne Michael Lewis, 15, student.
Killer
Jeffrey James Weise, 16, student/perpetrator.
Beslan School Hostage Crisis
September 1, 2004 (386) Dead (783) Injured
Perpetrator – Riyadus Saliheen
Background
Initially, the identity of the attackers were not immediately clear. It was widely assumed that they were separatists from nearby Chechnya. The Russian government had stated that the attackers were an international group consisting of some Arabs and even one local resident. There were thirty-two attackers, five of whom were women, who made the following demands:
* Withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya.
* The Presence of the following people in the schooclass="underline"
- Aleksander Dzasokhov, President of North Ossetia
- Murat Ziazikov, President of Ingushetia,
- Alu Alkhanov, President of Chechnya
- Aslambek Aslakhanov, or Mukharbek Aushev
- Vladimir Rushailo, Executive Secretary for the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The Crisis – Day 1
Every year in every school in the Russian Federation, on the first day of September, citizens celebrate a holiday known as the "Day of Knowledge" at school. The children are commonly accompanied by their parents and other family members dressed in their finest clothes. After listening to introductions and speeches from the staff and students, the ‘First Graders’ give a flower to the ‘Last Graders.’ The Last Graders then take the First Graders to their first class. In 2004, on September 1 at School Number One in Beslan, this tradition was deliberately used by terrorists as an opportunity to seize the school and take hostages. The result was hundreds of children and entire families wounded or killed.
At about 9:40 a.m., a group of thirty-two men and women stormed Beslan's Middle School Number One, whose pupils ranged from seven to eighteen years old. Most of the attackers wore black ski masks and a few were seen carrying explosive belts. After an exchange of gunfire with police in which five officers and one perpetrator were killed, the attackers seized the school building, taking more than 1,300 hostages.
This number was confirmed by teachers later. Many hostages were schoolchildren under the age of eighteen. There were also many parents and staff inside. About fifty people managed to flee to safety in the initial attack and alert authorities. Repeated shooting was later heard coming from the school buildings, thought by some to be for the intimidation of security forces. It was later revealed that the attackers had killed twenty adult- male hostages and had thrown their bodies out of the building. The attackers were also outraged by the authorities undercounting the number of hostages.