Community pulls together after shootings

RED LAKE, Minn. — Teachers met Wednesday to work out ways of helping young survivors of the nation's worst school shooting in six years, as outsiders streamed in to help the tight-knit community cope with the tragedy.

"Kids, if you're out there listening, please, we'll be there for you. Come back to school and we'll get through this together," Red Lake High School Principal Chris Dunshee told KSTP-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul. "Please, let us help you."

The school remained closed Wednesday as Dunshee and others assessed what kind of counseling the students would need. Teachers and staff were called to a morning meeting at the nearby elementary school on the Red Lake Reservation.

Reporters weren't able to approach the school, which is set back from the main road, because the Red Lake Band of Chippewa sharply restricted their access, warning that venturing off the main road through town would be trespassing and threatening arrests.

Tribal chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. told WCCO-AM of Minneapolis that the meeting at the elementary school was intended to produce a strategy to help families and victims.

"We're just coordinating our efforts with our community professionals and spiritual elders and then also we have people who are coming here to assist the community today," Jourdain said.

Authorities were still trying to determine why 16-year-old Jeff Weise went on the shooting rampage Monday that began at his grandfather's house and ended at Red Lake High School. Nine people were killed and seven were wounded before the gunman apparently shot himself.

Many students saw their friends shot, or heard gunshots and screams. Some students said they saw dead bodies in the hall and trails of blood when they evacuated the school.

"First and foremost, we've got to be focused on getting our kids through this," Dunshee told The Associated Press. "They're good kids. They don't deserve this."

Dunshee said many of his colleagues have offered support and encouragement, including Scott Staska, the superintendent of the Cold Spring school district where two students were killed in September 2003. A 15-year-old student was charged in the slayings and is awaiting trial.

Dunshee said Staska told him "we belong to a rather exclusive and undesirable club now — and we can get through it." Staska recommended Dunshee investigate grants that may be available to schools affected by such incidents.