The Red Lake High School Massacre
A depressed and deeply troubled teenager killed nine people and wounded another five before turning the gun on himself.
Jeffery Weise was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Joanne Weise and Daryl Lussier, who were members of the Ojibwe tribe. His mother was 17 when he was born; she and his father never married and had broken up by the time Jeffrey was born. When Jeff was only a few months old, Joanne’s parents forced her to give custody of the baby to Daryl, who lived with his parents on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota. He remained in the care of his father until the age of three when his mother took custody of him and moved to Minneapolis. She was young and evidently not very mature; Jeffrey would later describe her as an alcoholic who would physically and mentally abuse him. In June of 1993, Joanne was arrested for drunk driving and spent time in prison. Jeff’s grandparents took care of him while his mother was locked up.
During the autumn of 1996, Joanne and Jeffrey moved in with Timothy Desjarlait, Joanne’s boyfriend, in Shakopee, Minnesota. Joanne and Timothy welcomed a daughter into the world in 1996, and a son the following year. Joanne’s previous arrest for drunk driving didn’t affect her love of alcohol, and she was seldom sober. Her parenting was neglectful at best, and frequently abusive as well. Joanne would often lock Jeff…