Saying Good-Bye NY Times
March 27, 2005
Tribe Buries 3 on a Long Road to Healing
By MONICA DAVEY
ED LAKE, Minn., March 26 - Hundreds of cars - police squad cars from cities miles away, dark sedans carrying political leaders, and the ordinary, older cars of those who live here - wound their way on Saturday through the isolated Red Lake Indian Reservation, past the high school, past the makeshift memorial for those who died here, and on to the first funeral.
Three of those killed Monday in a teenager's shooting spree that ended at Red Lake High School were buried by Saturday evening, after a day of somber services that mixed Christian traditions with Indian drums, rituals and honor songs. At one point, an eagle flew overhead, circling around a memorial service, a sign some mourners said was hopeful.
But seven more funerals lie ahead in the coming days, including one for the gunman, and residents of this stark reservation of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians said that many months of struggle were certain to follow.
"This is a time for healing," said Fred Auginash, whose teenage nephew was among the wounded, as he stood outside the funeral for Daryl Lussier, in a biting wind. "This is hard on everybody, and it's going to take a long time. We're taking it pretty hard as a family, but Red Lake is taking it pretty hard as a family, too."
Among those remembered on Saturday: Sergeant Lussier, a 30-year veteran of the reservation police department known for his habit of waving to every car he passed and for his nickname, Dash; his companion, Michelle Sigana, 31, a quiet woman who friends said fell in love with Sergeant Lussier when she was 14; and a student, Chase Lussier, a 15-year-old who played basketball on the high school team and himself had a young child at home.
It was Sergeant Lussier's 16-year-old grandson, Jeff Weise, who shot his grandfather and Ms. Sigana, then took his grandfather's police-issued weapons to the high school, where he killed a security guard, a teacher and five students before killing himself. Mr. Weise drove to the school, the police say, in Sergeant Lussier's squad car. On Saturday, the squad car was parked outside Sergeant Lussier's memorial service, a bouquet of flowers tucked in the windshield.
Sergeant Lussier, 58, whom residents described as a kind-hearted officer, the type who might let someone off with just a warning, had experienced violence in his family before. Eight years ago, friends said, he was among the police officers gathered at the Red Lake home of his son, Daryl Jr., during a days-long standoff with the police. Sergeant Lussier tried to talk his son into giving up his weapon, recalled Lorene Gurneau, a family friend. In the end, the younger Mr. Lussier, Mr. Weise's father, committed suicide.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Senators Norm Coleman and Mark Dayton attended the memorials for Sergeant Lussier and Ms. Sigana, as did a representative from the White House.
In his weekly radio address, President Bush said Saturday that he was praying for the families of those killed, and praised one victim of the shooting, Derrick Brun, the unarmed security guard who was posted just inside the entryway to the school beside a metal detector and near a security camera. President Bush said Mr. Brun, 28, had tried to confront Mr. Weise, buying "vital time" for another security guard to lead some students to safety.
"Derrick's bravery cost him his life, and all Americans honor him," Mr. Bush said. Mr. Brun, who graduated from Red Lake High School and became a security guard at the school last October, will be buried on Monday.
The president, who had been criticized by some Indian leaders for not contacting tribal officials at Red Lake or commenting publicly immediately after Monday's shooting, spoke with Floyd Jourdain, the tribal council chairman, on Friday, offering condolences and federal help.
Governor Pawlenty has declared Monday a day of remembrance for the dead. Flags at schools and on state land will fly at half-staff. The governor has also called for a moment of silence in honor of Red Lake at 2 p.m. Monday.
On Saturday morning, two more of the seven people wounded in the shooting were released from a hospital in Bemidji, 30 miles south of the reservation.
By Saturday evening, only two boys - the most seriously wounded - were still hospitalized. Steven Cobenais, 15, who was shot in the forehead and lost his left eye, was listed in critical condition at a hospital in Fargo, N.D. Jeffrey May, 15, who was shot in the right cheek, was in serious condition.
At Chase Lussier's funeral, some of his classmates arrived wearing T-shirts bearing his baby-faced image, and his number on the Red Lake basketball squad, 21. Many were tearful. Some said they feared ever returning to the school that had left them, now, with images of bullets and screaming and death. Red Lake High is not expected to reopen for several weeks; school officials say they have extensive repairs to make to the bullet-ridden interior.
But Rodney Defoe, a pallbearer for Chase and a teammate, said quietly that he wanted to go back, as soon as possible. "I just want to, I want to get through this, to overcome this," he said.
As tribal elders spoke at one ceremony and two drums played on, Leigh Spears said that the residents of Red Lake were resilient and were starting to show it as they came together on Saturday.
"We are a strong people, and just talking to each other brings some help," she said. "Still," she added, "it's going to be a while, a long while."
Outside the school, a memorial has emerged along a fence in the past few days. Posters, poems and song lyrics cover the fence, and every so often, a student steps up to put up a new one. One reads, in part: "He stares down at a shattered youth, a shattered mirror shows the shattered truth."
Among the posters is one for Mr. Weise. But while posters for the other nine dead are surrounded now by teddy bears, roses, balloons, cigarettes and other offerings, Mr. Weise's has only his name and photograph.
Tribe Buries 3 on a Long Road to Healing
By MONICA DAVEY
ED LAKE, Minn., March 26 - Hundreds of cars - police squad cars from cities miles away, dark sedans carrying political leaders, and the ordinary, older cars of those who live here - wound their way on Saturday through the isolated Red Lake Indian Reservation, past the high school, past the makeshift memorial for those who died here, and on to the first funeral.
Three of those killed Monday in a teenager's shooting spree that ended at Red Lake High School were buried by Saturday evening, after a day of somber services that mixed Christian traditions with Indian drums, rituals and honor songs. At one point, an eagle flew overhead, circling around a memorial service, a sign some mourners said was hopeful.
But seven more funerals lie ahead in the coming days, including one for the gunman, and residents of this stark reservation of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians said that many months of struggle were certain to follow.
"This is a time for healing," said Fred Auginash, whose teenage nephew was among the wounded, as he stood outside the funeral for Daryl Lussier, in a biting wind. "This is hard on everybody, and it's going to take a long time. We're taking it pretty hard as a family, but Red Lake is taking it pretty hard as a family, too."
Among those remembered on Saturday: Sergeant Lussier, a 30-year veteran of the reservation police department known for his habit of waving to every car he passed and for his nickname, Dash; his companion, Michelle Sigana, 31, a quiet woman who friends said fell in love with Sergeant Lussier when she was 14; and a student, Chase Lussier, a 15-year-old who played basketball on the high school team and himself had a young child at home.
It was Sergeant Lussier's 16-year-old grandson, Jeff Weise, who shot his grandfather and Ms. Sigana, then took his grandfather's police-issued weapons to the high school, where he killed a security guard, a teacher and five students before killing himself. Mr. Weise drove to the school, the police say, in Sergeant Lussier's squad car. On Saturday, the squad car was parked outside Sergeant Lussier's memorial service, a bouquet of flowers tucked in the windshield.
Sergeant Lussier, 58, whom residents described as a kind-hearted officer, the type who might let someone off with just a warning, had experienced violence in his family before. Eight years ago, friends said, he was among the police officers gathered at the Red Lake home of his son, Daryl Jr., during a days-long standoff with the police. Sergeant Lussier tried to talk his son into giving up his weapon, recalled Lorene Gurneau, a family friend. In the end, the younger Mr. Lussier, Mr. Weise's father, committed suicide.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Senators Norm Coleman and Mark Dayton attended the memorials for Sergeant Lussier and Ms. Sigana, as did a representative from the White House.
In his weekly radio address, President Bush said Saturday that he was praying for the families of those killed, and praised one victim of the shooting, Derrick Brun, the unarmed security guard who was posted just inside the entryway to the school beside a metal detector and near a security camera. President Bush said Mr. Brun, 28, had tried to confront Mr. Weise, buying "vital time" for another security guard to lead some students to safety.
"Derrick's bravery cost him his life, and all Americans honor him," Mr. Bush said. Mr. Brun, who graduated from Red Lake High School and became a security guard at the school last October, will be buried on Monday.
The president, who had been criticized by some Indian leaders for not contacting tribal officials at Red Lake or commenting publicly immediately after Monday's shooting, spoke with Floyd Jourdain, the tribal council chairman, on Friday, offering condolences and federal help.
Governor Pawlenty has declared Monday a day of remembrance for the dead. Flags at schools and on state land will fly at half-staff. The governor has also called for a moment of silence in honor of Red Lake at 2 p.m. Monday.
On Saturday morning, two more of the seven people wounded in the shooting were released from a hospital in Bemidji, 30 miles south of the reservation.
By Saturday evening, only two boys - the most seriously wounded - were still hospitalized. Steven Cobenais, 15, who was shot in the forehead and lost his left eye, was listed in critical condition at a hospital in Fargo, N.D. Jeffrey May, 15, who was shot in the right cheek, was in serious condition.
At Chase Lussier's funeral, some of his classmates arrived wearing T-shirts bearing his baby-faced image, and his number on the Red Lake basketball squad, 21. Many were tearful. Some said they feared ever returning to the school that had left them, now, with images of bullets and screaming and death. Red Lake High is not expected to reopen for several weeks; school officials say they have extensive repairs to make to the bullet-ridden interior.
But Rodney Defoe, a pallbearer for Chase and a teammate, said quietly that he wanted to go back, as soon as possible. "I just want to, I want to get through this, to overcome this," he said.
As tribal elders spoke at one ceremony and two drums played on, Leigh Spears said that the residents of Red Lake were resilient and were starting to show it as they came together on Saturday.
"We are a strong people, and just talking to each other brings some help," she said. "Still," she added, "it's going to be a while, a long while."
Outside the school, a memorial has emerged along a fence in the past few days. Posters, poems and song lyrics cover the fence, and every so often, a student steps up to put up a new one. One reads, in part: "He stares down at a shattered youth, a shattered mirror shows the shattered truth."
Among the posters is one for Mr. Weise. But while posters for the other nine dead are surrounded now by teddy bears, roses, balloons, cigarettes and other offerings, Mr. Weise's has only his name and photograph.
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