shotbanner.jpeg

March 22, 2005

More from Red Lake

More details about the Red Lake massacre and 17 year old killer Jeff Weise are coming out.

He was the type of character with someone from both sides of the cultural divide to dig into:

one of a Native American who described himself as a "NativeNazi" and who other students said was regularly picked on for his odd behavior.
Here's a question: Do you suppose this next bit will make it into the Strib's coverage?
Red Lake Fire Director Roman Stately identified the shooter’s grandfather as Daryl Lussier, a longtime officer with the Red Lake Police Department, and said Lussier’s guns may have been used in the shootings.

Stately said Weise had two handguns and a shotgun. The teen reportedly drove up to the school in his grandfather's squad car.
So the fact that the weapons used were all police weapons - does that get into the Strib?

Prediction: 50-50 it makes the Strib's general coverage. 0% that it gets into any of the opinion columns or unsigned editorials.

This part caught my attention:

Student Reggie Graves said he was watching a movie about Shakespeare in class Monday when he heard Weise blast his way past the metal detector.

Then, in a nearby classroom, he heard Weise say something to his friend Ryan: “He asked Ryan if he believed in God,” Graves said. “And then he shot him.”

That, of course, was what one of the Columbine killers reportedly asked one of his victims.

Final note: I wonder if this case will get the attention that Columbine got? Columbine had the great advantage of featuring kids just like the kids of the news executives that decide what gets covered. It's very easy for "dispassionate" journalists to humanize victims who are just like them. Can they do the same for the victims in a dirt-poor community far from the media spotlight?

Posted by Mitch at March 22, 2005 06:46 PM | TrackBack
Comments

This will be swept under the rug by the media and later by law enforcement...it was only Ojibwe killing Ojibwe...Liberalism and handwringing is only for the liberal media elites.

There will no stories of the meth labs, persistent crime and law enforcement under assault for years at Red Lake by outside gangs.

...now if it was a nice squeaky clean 'CCO neighborhood...well...can we say all networks and wall-to-wall coverage...

Mark my words this rampage will disappear from the local media so fast...it is in the woods and we really know how the liberal intelliegensia think of forest dwellers...

Posted by: Greg at March 22, 2005 02:02 PM

the coverage of columbine was out of proportion to the event. evil is boring. hence to revisit a columbine like event means nothing new in terms of news coverage, the thrill is gone. "novelty" is the key: notice the news thrill at the terry s. story in florida. notice the news apathy concerning michael jackson.

Posted by: kpo at March 22, 2005 02:38 PM

It made general coverage in the Strib already.

Also, it does not sound like the .22 with which he shot his grandparents was a police weapon, so evidently not *all* of the guns were cop guns.

Ashpool

Posted by: Ashpool at March 22, 2005 03:26 PM

Missing also will be local knowledge that there have been security precautions in place at Red Lake long before anybody ever heard of Columbine or any other school shooting. We will also probably hear nothing whatsoever about the extent to which hip-hop culture is embraced and glamorized, the rudimentary mutilation of ball-point pen tattoos and amateur body piercings, fetal alcohol syndrome, domestic violence, gang violence, welfare fraud, check forging, shoplifting, vandalism, car theft, and babies by the dozen. Ask the churches, whose charity services are inundated. The tribe is completely overwhelmed, but they have a government culture center, a government treatment center, and an alphabet soup of government assistance programs, all courtesy of the DFL. All that's missing is the UN, which is why this story will soon disappear. That's why all the reports so far emanate from the hospital and it's all about the victims and the grief. Maybe if FOX News, CBS, the NYTimes or PBS ventured a camera team out to see the conditions the State has imposed on our native culture, things would change. But that isn't going to happen in this Blue State, which delivered for John Kerry.

Afterall, where is Mike Hatch?? Damage control. No questions, please.

Posted by: Eracus at March 22, 2005 03:35 PM

I don't think this story is getting the coverage of Columbine or Rocori. Just my opinion, I have nothing to back it up with, no stopwatches timing the time of story or videotapes to go back and check from the previous school shootings.

Again, just my opinion...

Posted by: Shawn Sarazin at March 22, 2005 05:57 PM

I went to Columbine and live in that community. You can only hope that this doesn't get the same coverage. That community will get turned into a circus and the locals will be in a fishbowl for the "interest" of outsiders. This community needs time to heal and grive. It doesn't need Stone Phillips broadcasting via remote from there for weeks, months, or years on end. And you sure as Hell don't want a Bowling For Red Lakes. Prey it blows over.

Posted by: bags75 at March 22, 2005 06:50 PM

I found tonight that watching the news on TV (a channel out of Fargo) I could hardly stand it. I much prefer reading it online...somehow, no matter what, the reporters seem to sensationlize it...and ask the most lame-ass questions of people. The facts are drowned out by the pathos they think we care more about (and some people do, I guess).

It's all very tragic...for the victims of course, but also for the sad, sick kid that felt this was all life had to offer. There are thousands of them out there (of all races) and why is that?

Posted by: Colleen at March 22, 2005 09:04 PM

Reporter on KMSP9 said that the police on the reservation and the FBI being involved has hampered information. They both have much different sets of rules as to what and how information goes out. Thought that was informative and interesting.

With regard to exposing (i.e., "fishbowl" on the community) I think that could be good in this case. Perhaps more people in Minnesota would get some idea of what is going on on the reservation. I think a lot of people think "well they have a casino, things are fine" when that is not the case.

Posted by: Shawn Sarazin at March 22, 2005 09:14 PM

Red Lake has been sealed. Roads closed. The only images allowed are of the school, the police station and the hospital.

If the school had metal detectors, it had video cameras.

The jurisdictional disputes will be about who handles the forensics.

Meanwhile, local methamphetamine awareness seminars have been open to the public, but nowhere in this story so far has the question even been asked.

Instead, the immediate story is the comparison between a Third World rural school and a wealthy Colorado suburb, and with all the MSM stars in town.

Why ain't dat dog barkin'?

Posted by: Eracus at March 22, 2005 10:21 PM

I am 23 years old and was 22 when i heard of the tragedy at Red Lake High School last March. I was 16 and in the tenth grade when Columbine happened. These tragic school shootings would stop if the media would stop showing the live coverage on the news. Please stop the volience.

Posted by: Jordan at January 5, 2006 08:18 PM

I am 23 years old and was 22 when i heard of the tragedy at Red Lake High School last March. I was 16 and in the tenth grade when Columbine happened. These tragic school shootings would stop if the media would stop showing the live coverage on the news. Please stop the volience.

Posted by: Jordan at January 5, 2006 08:18 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?
hi