Jeff Weise
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey James "Jeff" Weise (August 8, 1988 – March 21, 2005) was an Ojibwe Native American
adolescent, and a student at Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake, Minnesota
. He murdered nine people and wounded five others in a shooting spree on March 21, 2005, in the Red Lake Indian Reservation
located in northwest Minnesota. Weise first murdered his grandfather and grandfather's girlfriend at his trailer home in Red Lake, an unarmed security guard, a teacher and five students at Red Lake Senior High School. The shooting ended when Weise committed suicide.
, the only child to 21-year-old Daryl Allen Lussier, Jr. and 17-year-old Joanne Elizabeth Weise. His parents were an unmarried couple from the Red Lake Indian Reservation
in Red Lake, Minnesota
, who had separated before he was born. In November 1988, Joanne was forced by her parents to place her three-month-old son in the care of his father in Red Lake. In June 1991, when he was two years old, Jeff was reclaimed by his mother in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. His mother was alleged to be a violent alcoholic, who would physically and emotionally abuse her first born son.
Shortly thereafter, in 1992, Joanne Weise began dating a Lakota man named Timothy Troy DesJarlait. The two married on June 27, 1998, however divorced in February 2000. The couple had two children: daughter Daphne, born in 1995, and son Sebastian, born in 1997.
On July 21, 1997, Daryl Lussier, Jr. committed suicide via shotgun wound to the head, after a two-day standoff with the Red Lake Police Department in Red Lake. Daryl Lussier, Sr., his father, had attempted to intervene in the event, but failed to bring the standoff to a peaceful end.
On March 5, 1999, Joanne Weise suffered severe brain damage in a car accident, in which a tractor-trailer crashed into her car on a highway in Minneapolis. She and her cousin Elizabeth May Jourdain were drinking alcohol and driving, and the accident resulted in Jourdain's death and Joanne having 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.
His depression provoked a suicide attempt in May 2004, describing his experience in a post made on the website Above Top Secret
:
program at the school called Learning Center.
In September 2003, Weise enrolled at Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake. He was remembered as withdrawn by teachers and fellow students and reportedly had a history of troublesome behavior. However, his social studies
teacher Wanda Baxter recalled, "[Weise] was a good listener like any other ordinary student. He was quiet but never a troublemaker." Another teacher described Weise as "a pretty bright kid, but was lazy when it came to school." According to reports, Weise endured frequent bullying by fellow students because of his physical appearance and regularly dressing in all-black clothing. In spite of this, he usually did not respond to their taunts. Jeffrey himself said, "Because of my size and appearance people don't give me as much trouble as they would if I looked weak." In spite of the bullying, several students remember Weise as being non-violent. Sophomore student Cartera Hart was a close friend of Weise and described him as "the only one I talked to about my problems. He was trustworthy, and he was always capable of understanding what I was going through." Although he has sometimes been described as a loner, several students have testified that he possessed a great deal of friends. He was known to wear a black trench coat
and black clothing to school all year round, and was labeled a "Goth
kid" by fellow students. He was also known to have a notebook into which he drew what has been described by friend Sky Grant as "evil
and dark... stuff".
, Weise extended his right arm upward in the Nazi salute
while students were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance
. He was sent to a school counselor and professed far-right leanings and his admiration for Adolf Hitler
. In April, the faculty at Red Lake Senior High School had been warned of someone threatening to "shoot up" the school on April 20, Hitler's birthday and the five-year anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre
. Weise was a prime suspect in the threat and was expelled in October. For the following five months, Weise was enrolled in a home-schooling program for children residing on the reservation.
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"), possibly named after Josef Mengele
the Nazi Doctor. 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. He also had a fascination with the swastika
. On one occasion, he fought with a pupil whom he referred to as a "Communist".
In one post, dated July 13, 2004, he claimed:
Another post read:
The posts were dated eleven months prior to the shooting.
. Five other students were injured in the shooting. After briefly exchanging fire with police officers following the murders, Weise committed suicide
via shotgun.
. In online posts, he frequently dealt with the subject of zombie
s, under the pseudonym "Blades11". In a short story he published on the internet in early 2004, titled "Surviving the Dead", he includes a detailed description of a school massacre from the perspective of a victim, combining it with the theme of zombies. The story is bloody and crude in content and spelling. Grover's Mill, Minnesota, the "quiet town" in Weise's story, was the site of the landing of aliens in the radio version of War of the Worlds
starring Orson Welles
. Weise also posted at Above top secret.com.
Another website he frequented was The Official Mars Website, the online headquarters for the San Francisco Bay Area Horrorcore
rapper Mars, where the users are encouraged to post about music, murder, and suicide on its forums. Weise was described by friends and family as an obsessed fan of both Horrorcore music and Mars.
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 fatally 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 rapid gunfire.
A reviewer of the animation on Newgrounds wrote, "Umm... ok. Was that like a warning message? Hmm dude you need help badly," to which Weise replied, "Lol
, you obviously can't tell the difference between Fantasy and reality. This cartoon was made for nothing more than Random violence, and believe it or not there's an audience out there that this appeals to. So don't try judging my Mental health based upon a simple animation, capisce?"
Weise's Newgrounds profile also noted that two of his favorite films were Elephant and Zero Day, which were both based on and inspired by the Columbine High School massacre
.
Weise's only other animation on Newgrounds was "Clown," in which a clown
devours a young man's head, although the scene is shown for less than a second. Weise was briefly part of a defunct animation website known as Anitude, where he created an unfinished crime series featuring violent gangsters.
A LiveJournal account apparently created by Weise contained just three entries from December 2004 through January 2005. The weblog was customized to be rendered in black and white, and Weise expressed feelings in his few writings including a desire for change and salvation.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
adolescent, and a student at Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake, Minnesota
Red Lake, Minnesota
There is also a Red Lake County in Minnesota.Red Lake is a census-designated place within the Lower Red Lake unorganized territory located in Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States. As of the 2000 census, Red Lake had a total population of 1,436...
. He murdered nine people and wounded five others in a shooting spree on March 21, 2005, in the Red Lake Indian Reservation
Red Lake Indian Reservation
The Red Lake Indian Reservation covers 1,258.62 sq mi in parts of nine counties in northern Minnesota, United States. It is divided into many pieces, although the largest piece is centered about Red Lake, in north-central Minnesota, the largest lake entirely within that state. This section lies...
located in northwest Minnesota. Weise first murdered his grandfather and grandfather's girlfriend at his trailer home in Red Lake, an unarmed security guard, a teacher and five students at Red Lake Senior High School. The shooting ended when Weise committed suicide.
Life
Jeffrey James Weise was born in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, the only child to 21-year-old Daryl Allen Lussier, Jr. and 17-year-old Joanne Elizabeth Weise. His parents were an unmarried couple from the Red Lake Indian Reservation
Red Lake Indian Reservation
The Red Lake Indian Reservation covers 1,258.62 sq mi in parts of nine counties in northern Minnesota, United States. It is divided into many pieces, although the largest piece is centered about Red Lake, in north-central Minnesota, the largest lake entirely within that state. This section lies...
in Red Lake, Minnesota
Red Lake, Minnesota
There is also a Red Lake County in Minnesota.Red Lake is a census-designated place within the Lower Red Lake unorganized territory located in Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States. As of the 2000 census, Red Lake had a total population of 1,436...
, who had separated before he was born. In November 1988, Joanne was forced by her parents to place her three-month-old son in the care of his father in Red Lake. In June 1991, when he was two years old, Jeff was reclaimed by his mother in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. His mother was alleged to be a violent alcoholic, who would physically and emotionally abuse her first born son.
Shortly thereafter, in 1992, Joanne Weise began dating a Lakota man named Timothy Troy DesJarlait. The two married on June 27, 1998, however divorced in February 2000. The couple had two children: daughter Daphne, born in 1995, and son Sebastian, born in 1997.
On July 21, 1997, Daryl Lussier, Jr. committed suicide via shotgun wound to the head, after a two-day standoff with the Red Lake Police Department in Red Lake. Daryl Lussier, Sr., his father, had attempted to intervene in the event, but failed to bring the standoff to a peaceful end.
On March 5, 1999, Joanne Weise suffered severe brain damage in a car accident, in which a tractor-trailer crashed into her car on a highway in Minneapolis. She and her cousin Elizabeth May Jourdain were drinking alcohol and driving, and the accident resulted in Jourdain's death and Joanne having to be committed to a nursing home in Bloomington, Minnesota
Bloomington, Minnesota
Bloomington is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota in Hennepin County. Located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, Bloomington lies at the heart of the southern...
. 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.
His depression provoked a suicide attempt in May 2004, describing his experience in a post made on the website Above Top Secret
Above Top Secret
Above Top Secret is a news discussion forum created by Simon Gray in 1999 as a discussion board for conspiracy, and a site for general information about conspiracy topics. Today Above top Secret is more commonly used to discuss current news articles as the Breaking News forum makes up the largest...
:
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 dicision (sic) to seek medical treatment, as on the other hand I could have chose to sit there until enough blood drained from my downward lascerations on my wrists to die.
High school
Weise attended Pearson Elementary School in Shakopee, Minnesota from kindergarten to fourth grade, Bluff Creek Elementary School in Chaska, Minnesota for fifth grade, Red Lake Middle School in Red Lake, Minnesota for sixth through eighth grades, and Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake for ninth grade. In 2001, Weise was forced to repeat the eighth grade because of failing grades and truancy, and enrolled in a special educationSpecial education
Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
program at the school called Learning Center.
In September 2003, Weise enrolled at Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake. He was remembered as withdrawn by teachers and fellow students and reportedly had a history of troublesome behavior. However, his social studies
Social studies
Social studies is the "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence," as defined by the American National Council for the Social Studies...
teacher Wanda Baxter recalled, "[Weise] was a good listener like any other ordinary student. He was quiet but never a troublemaker." Another teacher described Weise as "a pretty bright kid, but was lazy when it came to school." According to reports, Weise endured frequent bullying by fellow students because of his physical appearance and regularly dressing in all-black clothing. In spite of this, he usually did not respond to their taunts. Jeffrey himself said, "Because of my size and appearance people don't give me as much trouble as they would if I looked weak." In spite of the bullying, several students remember Weise as being non-violent. Sophomore student Cartera Hart was a close friend of Weise and described him as "the only one I talked to about my problems. He was trustworthy, and he was always capable of understanding what I was going through." Although he has sometimes been described as a loner, several students have testified that he possessed a great deal of friends. He was known to wear a black trench coat
Trench coat
A trench coat or trenchcoat is a raincoat made of waterproof heavy-duty cotton drill or poplin, wool gabardine, or leather. It generally has a removable insulated lining; and it is usually knee-length.-History:...
and black clothing to school all year round, and was labeled a "Goth
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
kid" by fellow students. He was also known to have a notebook into which he drew what has been described by friend Sky Grant as "evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
and dark... stuff".
Political views
In March 2004, during a school pep rallyPep rally
Pep rallies are events that occur primarily in the United States and Canada. A pep rally is a gathering of people, typically students of middle school, high school and college age, before a sports event. The purpose of such a gathering is to encourage school spirit and to support members of the...
, Weise extended his right arm upward in the Nazi salute
Nazi salute
The Nazi salute, or Hitler salute , was a gesture of greeting in Nazi Germany usually accompanied by saying, Heil Hitler! ["Hail Hitler!"], Heil, mein Führer ["Hail, my leader!"], or Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]...
while students were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance
Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of loyalty to the federal flag and the republic of the United States of America, originally composed by Christian Socialist Francis Bellamy in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942...
. He was sent to a school counselor and professed far-right leanings and his admiration for Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. In April, the faculty at Red Lake Senior High School had been warned of someone threatening to "shoot up" the school on April 20, Hitler's birthday and the five-year anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
. Weise was a prime suspect in the threat and was expelled in October. For the following five months, Weise was enrolled in a home-schooling program for children residing on the reservation.
Weise is also believed to have posted messages on the Neo-Nazi Internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
of the Libertarian National Socialist Green Party under the aliases NativeNazi and Todesengel (German for "angel of death"), possibly named after Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
the Nazi Doctor. The posts revealed an admiration for the ideas of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, and interests in persuading other Native Americans as to the merits of those ideas. He also had a fascination with the swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
. On one occasion, he fought with a pupil whom he referred to as a "Communist".
In one post, dated July 13, 2004, he claimed:
As a result of cultural dominance and interracial mixing there is [sic] barely any full blooded Natives left. Where I live less than 1% of all the people on the ReservationIndian reservationAn American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
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-NaziNazismNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
.
Another 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 eleven months prior to the shooting.
The massacre
On March 21, 2005, Weise killed a total of nine people. He first killed his grandfather, 58-year-old Daryl Allen Lussier, Sr., and Lussier's girlfriend, 31-year-old Michelle Leigh Sigana. Later he shot and killed seven people at Red Lake Senior High School, including one teacher and a security guardSecurity guard
A security guard is a person who is paid to protect property, assets, or people. Security guards are usually privately and formally employed personnel...
. Five other students were injured in the shooting. After briefly exchanging fire with police officers following the murders, Weise committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
via shotgun.
Weise and the Internet
According to reports, Weise spent vast amounts of time onlineONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
. In online posts, he frequently dealt with the subject of zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s, under the pseudonym "Blades11". In a short story he published on the internet in early 2004, titled "Surviving the Dead", he includes a detailed description of a school massacre from the perspective of a victim, combining it with the theme of zombies. The story is bloody and crude in content and spelling. Grover's Mill, Minnesota, the "quiet town" in Weise's story, was the site of the landing of aliens in the radio version of War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (radio)
The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker...
starring Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
. Weise also posted at Above top secret.com.
Another website he frequented was The Official Mars Website, the online headquarters for the San Francisco Bay Area Horrorcore
Horrorcore
Horrorcore is a subgenre of hip hop music based in horror-themed lyrical content and imagery. While the style is rarely popular, some performers have sold well in the mainstream scene.-Origins:...
rapper Mars, where the users are encouraged to post about music, murder, and suicide on its forums. Weise was described by friends and family as an obsessed fan of both Horrorcore music and Mars.
Weise also created violent Flash animations and posted them on the Internet (including Newgrounds
Newgrounds
Newgrounds is an American entertainment and social media website. Founded on July 6, 1995 by Tom Fulp, the site primarily hosts Adobe Flash animations and games, but also features a music-oriented page, along with an art portal...
) using the alias
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"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 fatally shoots a Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
member. It ends when the character uses a handgun to shoot himself in the head. The animation is accompanied by the sounds of rapid gunfire.
A reviewer of the animation on Newgrounds wrote, "Umm... ok. Was that like a warning message? Hmm dude you need help badly," to which Weise replied, "Lol
LOL (Internet slang)
LOL, an abbreviation for laughing out loud, or laugh out loud, is a common element of Internet slang. It was used historically on Usenet but is now widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication, and even face-to-face communication...
, you obviously can't tell the difference between Fantasy and reality. This cartoon was made for nothing more than Random violence, and believe it or not there's an audience out there that this appeals to. So don't try judging my Mental health based upon a simple animation, capisce?"
Weise's Newgrounds profile also noted that two of his favorite films were Elephant and Zero Day, which were both based on and inspired by the Columbine High School massacre
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
.
Weise's only other animation on Newgrounds was "Clown," in which a clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
devours a young man's head, although the scene is shown for less than a second. Weise was briefly part of a defunct animation website known as Anitude, where he created an unfinished crime series featuring violent gangsters.
A LiveJournal account apparently created by Weise contained just three entries from December 2004 through January 2005. The weblog was customized to be rendered in black and white, and Weise expressed feelings in his few writings including a desire for change and salvation.
External links
- Biographical timeline of Jeffrey James Weise
- Jeffrey James Weise obituary at Red Lake New News (March 25, 2005)
- Jeffrey Weise: Family Tree
- Smoking Gun: School Killer's Animated Terror
- David Hanners and Beth Silva (March 24, 2005). Troubling Internet postings clash with family's view of a happy Weise. Saint Paul Pioneer Press.
- Rise of the Dead - Zombie Forum Weise regularly posted in
- The Guardian: A neo-nazi "angel of death"
- Weise's Yahoo! Profile (removed by Yahoo! at 14:32 Mar 25, 2005 [UTC], and was brought back)
- Weise's Newgrounds Profile
- Weise's LiveJournal page
- Minnesota School Shooting: Notes Of Interest - Free Press International
- Post counting three PM's by Weise, No longer available at the source.
- Jeff Weise's Nazi posts
- Culture kills in Red Lake tragedy, Blue Corn Comics