'Utter disbelief'

RED LAKE, Minn. — Authorities were trying to determine Tuesday what caused a teenager to gun down his grandfather, put on the man's police-issue belt and bulletproof vest and drive his marked squad car to a high school, where he began shooting his classmates at will.

Jeff Weise, 16, killed nine people and wounded seven Monday before trading gunfire with a police officer and apparently shooting himself. His motive still wasn't clear Tuesday, but the FBI said the shootings appeared to have been planned in advance.

Weise's victims include his grandfather, Daryl "Dash" Lussier, 58, father of four adult children and two young children under the age of 10; his grandfather's companion, Michelle Sigana, 32; school guard Derrick Brun, 28; teacher Neva Rogers, 62; student Alicia White, 15, the oldest of six children being raised by their grandmother, she played basketball on the freshman team; Thurlene Stillday, 15, one of five children in her family; Chase Lussier, 15, a young father who helped to care for a son born just months ago. Some students say he died a hero, pushing a girl out of the way before he was shot. Two other students killed were identified in media reports as Dwayne Lewis, 15, and Chanelle Rosebear, 15.

It was the nation's deadliest school shooting since the Columbine massacre in April 1999 that ended with the deaths of 12 students, a teacher and the two teen gunmen.

The killings on this northern Minnesota Indian reservation began at the home of Weise's grandfather, who was shot to death with a .22-caliber gun, according to Michael Tabman, the FBI's special agent in charge for Minneapolis. Sigana was also killed at the home.

Lussier had worked as a tribal police officer for decades. Weise drove his grandfather's squad car to the school, where he gunned down Brun at the door and spent about 10 minutes inside, targeting people at random.

Hearing the shots, students and adults barricaded themselves into offices and classrooms and crouched under desks, authorities said. Weise asked one student whether he believed in God before pulling the trigger, one pupil said.

In addition to the nine he killed, Weise's victims include two 15-year-olds who remain in critical condition at a Fargo, N.D., hospital with gunshot wounds to the face.

"Right now we are in utter disbelief and shock," said Floyd Jourdain Jr., chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa.

Authorities were investigating whether Weise, who dressed in black and wrote stories about zombies, may have posted messages on a neo-Nazi Web site expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler.