Minnesota Gunman drove police car to school - ten dead.

Last Update: Wednesday, March 23, 2005. 11:28am (AEDT)- ABC News Online

Gunman drove police car to school

Teenage gunman Jeff Weise drove a stolen police car to his school in the US state of Minnesota and was wearing a bullet-proof vest when he shot at students and teachers, authorities have revealed.

The remote town of Red Lake is grieving for the victims of the worst school shooting in the United States since the Columbine massacre in 1999.

FBI agent Michael Tabman says Weise, 16, started by shooting dead his grandfather Daryl Lussier, 58, a sergeant in the local police station, and Mr Lussier's companion, Michelle Sigana, 32.

Mr Tabman says the teenager took his grandfather's police bulletproof vest, gun belt and police car "and drove to the school, driving up right to the door".

He was armed with two handguns and a shotgun.

At the school, he was confronted by two unarmed security guards. Weise shot dead one of them, Derrick Brun, while the other fled inside.

Opened fire

Inside the school, Weise fired at a teacher, Neva Winnecoup-Rogers, 62, and a group of students in the corridor and followed them.

"He pursued them into a classroom," Mr Tabman said. "It is there he opened fire, killing a number of students and the teacher.

"Shortly after that, Mr Weise continued to roam through the school, firing randomly."

One of the dead students was 14 and four were aged 15. At least three were girls.

Weise fired into the door of other classrooms where teachers and students barred the doors to stop him from getting in.

Student Sondra Hegstrom, who heard shooting from an adjoining classroom, told the local newspaper: "You could hear a girl saying, 'No, Jeff. Quit! Quit! Leave me alone. Why are you doing this?' Boom, boom, boom, and then no more screaming.

"I looked him in the eye and ran in a room, and that's when I hid," she said. "I called 911 from a cell phone and they said, 'Just sit there and wait until the cops come'."

Changed his mind

The local newspaper, The Pioneer, quoted another student as saying the killer pointed his gun at a boy, changed his mind, smiled, waved and shot somebody else.

The police and fire departments received several emergency calls from students and teachers trapped in classrooms.

Mr Tabman says four police arrived and one opened fire at the gunman, who shot back.

Weise then withdrew to the classroom where he had killed the teacher and students and took his own life, the FBI agent said.

Investigators in Red Lake, an Indian reservation town of about 5,000 people sitting 120 kilometres south of the Canadian border, believe Weise acted alone and they are looking into his reported extremist sympathies.

Reports described Weise as a loner who wore a dark trench coat to school every day and who had used the names 'Todesengel' - German for 'Angel of Death' - and 'NativeNazi' when signing on to extreme right-wing Internet sites.

"I guess I've always carried a natural admiration for Hitler and his ideals, and his courage to take on larger nations," Weise wrote last year in an online forum frequented by neo-Nazis.

'Lost in life'

A school worker described Weise as "a mixed-up kid who seemed lost in life".

Relatives said his father committed suicide four years ago and that his mother was in a nursing home because of brain injuries following a car accident.

US Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales says the FBI and the US Attorney's Office in Minnesota will "commit all resources needed to learn the facts behind this tragedy and provide comfort and relief to this grieving community".

The White House says President George W Bush has been kept informed of events in Red Lake.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who were killed," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

The school, which has about 300 students, has been closed indefinitely.

 

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