Red Lake Press Release

[Andre Cramblit]

24 people shot in Red Lake, the majority at Red Lake High School - 10  
fatalities

Preliminary reports are sketchy and they are all unconfirmed, but it is  
believed as many as 24 people have been shot on the Red Lake Indian  
Reservation, and at the Red Lake High School, and as many as 10 are  
reported to have died as a result of those shootings.  The majority of  
the shootings took place at the school.

At the time of this report, the school was still under lockdown and  
considered a hostile area yet, with local police, FBI investigators,  
state police, Leech Lake Police and county deputies at the scene,  
although students still in the building had all been released.

According to early reports, sometime after 2 p.m. a student of the  
school, allegedly shot his grandfather and grandmother at their home in  
the Back of Town (BOT) area in Red Lake, then went to the Red Lake High  
School in his grandfather's law enforcement vehicle, where he shot and  
killed a school security guard, 8 students and 1 teacher.  There are  
reports of as many as 12 fatalities from the shootings, and 12  
wounded--some critically.

The names of all the victims are being withheld pending notification of  
relatives.

The boy's grandfather was a veteran law enforcement officer for the Red  
Lake Police Department with over 30 years experience, and the entire  
reservation is shocked, stunned and grieving.

Although still under investigation and further details will be released  
at a conference scheduled for 2 p.m. tomorrow, the student was  
reportedly involved in a confrontation with Red Lake Police inside the  
school after the shooting, and may have fatally shot himself.

The weapons he reportedly used may have belonged to his grandfather,  
and a fire department official stated the boy was wearing a police  
utility belt with service revolvers and also had used a shotgun

A press conference was scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Criminal Justice  
Complex in Red Lake.

Prior to the conference in Red Lake however, Paul McCabe of the FBI  
issued a statement, confirming 8 had died in the shooting, 2 were male  
students and 2 were female students--including the shooter, a juvenile  
male--a female teacher, an adult male, and at the residence, a male and  
female.  He said at this time they believed the shooter was acting  
alone and was among those who had died.  He said those students who had  
died were in one classroom when they were shot.

McCabe wouldn't elaborate further, stating the investigation was  
ongoing with numerous law enforcement agencies taking part in the  
investigation, including the FBI, Red Lake and Leech Lake police  
departments, Beltrami Council Sheriffs Department and State police.

A press conference was held at the Criminal Justice Center in Red Lake  
at 7 p.m.

"First of all I'd like to thank everybody for their concern,” Chairman  
Jourdain stated in the conference.  "Today we've had an unfortunate and  
tragic series of events here on the Red Lake Reservation.  At this time  
we're going to defer any specific information over to the Department of  
Public Safety and also to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  This  
is, without a doubt, the darkest hour in the history of our tribe.  And  
I just want to again, send our heartfelt wishes out to the families,  
the victims, and everybody throughout America, in light of the  
unfortunate events that happened here today."

Jourdain said our community was shocked and in dismay, when asked how  
the community was reacting.  He said in dealing with the tragic events,  
they would rely on people in the community who are leaders, teachers  
and healers to come forth and advise everyone on how to go about  
healing the community. Right now, he said, they were all in the initial  
stages of shock.  They would rely on the advise of elders and  
professional people to guide them through the crisis.

When asked about the security of the reservation, Jourdain stated Red  
Lake had it's own police department, and the school district also had  
their own security.

"I think the events today were something that could not be avoided,"  
Jourdain said.

He said he had no specifics on the shooter, that he wasn't at liberty  
to comment specifically on the matter.  He did say he believed a  
student came into the school and shot several individuals.

Jourdain said he anticipated there would be many support mechanisms  
that would converge on the reservation, and they also had professionals  
on the Reservation who had experience in things of this  
nature--although not this traumatic--when asked about support people  
for the community.  He said those resources would be made available to  
the community.

He was asked if there was any warning of the incident happening, which  
Jourdain said he didn't know, but didn't see any indication that there  
was.

  "It just caught everybody completely by surprise and the whole town  
was floored by the events that happened here today,” Jourdain said.

He stated the building was currently secure, all students were out of  
the building, and the investigation on currently ongoing.

The enrollment of Red Lake High School was between 250-300, Chairman  
Jourdain stated, and further questioning was deferred to Public Safety  
Director, Pat Mills.

Mills stated they were still conducting their investigation and unable  
to give out a lot of information.

"The only thing I can tell you right now is we have multiple victims in  
this instant, it did occur at the school, and there are a number of  
juveniles involved,"  Mills stated.  "Tomorrow, hopefully around 2-2:30  
p.m. we'll have another press release and at that time we'll get into  
more details of what transpired.  There are some situations here that  
we're still checking into that started this incident that occurred.  We  
did receive a 911 call this afternoon at 2:55 p.m. this afternoon that  
there was a shooting at the [school].  Our officers did respond almost  
immediately and the officers did confront the alleged suspect at that  
time in the school building.  There was an exchange of gunfire and  
that's where we're at now--doing the investigation to determine what  
took place."

Mills further stated that they wanted to let the people know they did  
have the suspect--they knew who the suspect was, and there were no  
other individuals out there involved in the incident, so the community  
wouldn't have to worry about anything else.

"All the family members and victims were being taken care of,"  Mills  
said. "They're meeting now at IHS (Indian Health Service), they're  
being provided counseling in any way they we help them, along with the  
sheriff's department who sent out some of their chaplains to assist us  
in any way."

He wouldn't get into any details of the incident, and stated there has  
been security at the school since 1995.  He said there were cameras  
situated in the school, they have reviewed the tapes, and would relate  
that information at another conference.

The school was locked down after the initial call was received and to  
his understanding, teachers and staff knew what to do and did what had  
to be done according to school policies.  This occurred within a matter  
of minutes.

Mills stated they have had emergency drills involving similar scenarios  
just last year, and he felt teachers and staff did what they were  
trained to do during the crisis.

Superintendent of Schools, Stuart Desjarlait, on behalf of the Red Lake  
Board of Education, offered their condolences for the victims, and were  
in the process of getting their crisis management plan into place.

"We have one in place and that saved a lot of kids today, and teachers  
utilizing that plan and following it through on what was supposed to be  
done on in this case and in situations like this,” Desjarlait said.   
"We have a tremendous staff at Red Lake High School for knowing what to  
do.  We won't be having school for the rest of the week.  Tomorrow the  
district is closed, and the next day the staff will be coming back in."

Desjarlait said they would be working with elders, spiritual leaders,  
mental health counselors, and getting a plan ready when high school  
teachers come back--and when the students come back to school next  
Wednesday.

He would not comment on the incident specifically due to the  
investigation still ongoing, and he said the district had about 1500  
kids in four buildings.  Red Lake's School District consisted of the  
high school, a middle school and elementary school located in Red Lake,  
and another K-8 grade school in the Ponemah District about 25 miles  
north of Red Lake.

Mills explained why the FBI was investigating the incident.  He said  
the federal government is responsible for all major crimes that occur  
on Indian Reservations.  Red Lake falls under that jurisdiction of the  
FBI.  Major crimes include homicides, rape, assaults, kidnapping and  
ect.  The Red Lake Police Department handles a lot of the misdemeanor  
cases and assists the FBI on their felony cases.

All Red Lake Schools will be closed until Tuesday of next week, and a  
press conference is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, when more details  
will be released, along with the names of victims.

.:. 

André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the  
Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council  
NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development  
needs of American Indians

To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to:  
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:  
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/? 
location=listinfo

.:. 

André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the  
Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council  
NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development  
needs of American Indians

To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to:  
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:  
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/? 
location=listinfo

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