Red Lake Massacre - Aftermath

Aftermath

• Buck Jourdain, Chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, stated that the shootings were "one of the darkest and most painful occurrences in the history of our tribe."
• This shooting is the fifth deadliest school massacre in the United States, only behind the Columbine High School massacre, University of Texas shooting, the Virginia Tech massacre and the Bath School disaster, and the second deadliest massacre at a US high school, only behind the Columbine High School massacre.
• Louis Jourdain, the son of Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr., was arrested in connection with the shootings on March 28, 2005 and charged with conspiracy. He was charged with conspiracy to commit murder based on several email messages he exchanged with Jeff Weise which involved plans for the Red Lake High School massacre. The conspiracy charge was eventually dropped, though Jordain pled guilty to transmitting threatening messages through the Internet.
• Jeffrey May, a sophomore who was injured during the massacre, was considered to be a hero by many for attempting to attack the gunman, and was featured in the Reader's Digest and the New York Times.
• President Bush praised security guard Derrick Brun on March 26, 2006. He said "Derrick's bravery cost him his life, and all Americans honor him. Although he was unarmed, Derrick ignored the pleas of a colleague to run for his life by engaging the assailant; he bought vital time for a fellow security guard to rush a group of students to safety."
• The massacre was briefly blamed on the 2003 film Elephant which is about a school shooting and was watched by Jeffrey Weise 17 days prior to the shooting. A friend of Weise said that he brought the movie over to a friends house and skipped ahead to parts that showed two students planning and carrying out a school massacre, although they talked about the film afterwards Jeffrey Weise said and did nothing to make anyone suspect what he was planning.
• On July 21, 2006, the Red Lake school district had reached a settlement with the families of the massacre victims. The school district agreed to pay $1,000,000 total to 21 of the victims' families, the maximum amount allowed by Minnesota law. Of the settlement, $900,000 will immediately be granted to the families, and the remaining $100,000 will be set aside for future distribution.