Although Jeff Weise, the teenager behind Minnesota school shooting, was a smart student, he had this weird kind of thing for Nazi symbols, said Christopher Morrison, a 10th-grader at Red Lake High School.
Morrison (16) said Weise had a great knowledge about politics and history, but also had this scary-looking black trench coat and would always draw swastikas. "He was a smart kid, but strange he had a thing for Nazi symbols. Most people thought of him as really weird," he said.
Monday's rampage is the second-worst school shooting in US history after Columbine. Eight people were killed in the shootout, including Weise, who committed suicide after exchanging fire with the police and Weise’s two grandparents, whom he had killed earlier in the house.
Charlie Norris (40), a fitness trainer in Red Lake, said: “Weise and his friends frequented his gym for a few weeks last summer and would lift weights and play Marilyn Manson music. Weise seemed like a nice decent kid; he respected our gym.”
Alicia Neadeau (17), who luckily missed her class that day, said: “He seemed like a pretty cool guy to me."
Weise's rampage, the FBI says, began in the afternoon at around 3 pm at his grandfather’s home, Daryl Lussier, a tribal policeman. Weise instantly killed Lussier and his companion Michelle Sigana who were at home. Later Weise took his grandfather's bulletproof vest, gun belt and squad car and reached Red Lake High School, where he went berserk with his gun killing people at will.
The FBI's special agent Michael Tabman said the investigators are yet to find the motive behind the killing. He said Weise must have acted alone and chose his victims randomly at the school.
Weise had experienced family tragedies as his father had committed suicide, and his mother was killed in a severe car accident. He and had frequently moved between Red Lake and the Twin Cities and of late was staying with his grandparents in Red Lake.
