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Minneapolis (AP) ― U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger, just weeks after wrapping up his investigation into the worst U.S. school shooting since Columbine, announced Tuesday that he will step down at the end of the month and return to private practice.

Heffelfinger, who was appointed to the post shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said he was stepping down for personal and family reasons. While the shooting at Red Lake High School was not a reason for his departure, he said, the case did play a role in the timing of it.

"It was very clear to me personally that I was not going to quit this job until after I met with the victims of the tragedy," he said. "This was a very difficult decision."

Heffelfinger oversaw his office's investigation into the March 21 shooting that claimed 10 lives on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in far northern Minnesota. Just two weeks ago, Heffelfinger presented the findings of his investigation to victims' family members and some tribal officials.

Heffelfinger was criticized by some families for not sharing more information about the investigation.

Although he did not make the findings public, relatives who heard the presentation said Heffelfinger told them as many as 39 people had some sort of advance warning of 16-year-old Jeff Weise's plans to open fire at Red Lake High School. Weise killed nine people on the reservation, including seven at the high school, before taking his own life.

The only person prosecuted was Louis Jourdain, 17, the son of the tribal chairman. The teen admitted to exchanging threatening communications with Weise.

Francis Brun, the father of Derrick Brun, who was killed in the shooting, said he was surprised to learn Heffelfinger was stepping down. Though Brun has been critical of the investigation since no one else has been prosecuted, he said he held no ill will toward Heffelfinger.

"I'm just not too happy with the federal court system," he said.

The reservation is a sovereign nation, so crimes committed there are tried in federal court, rather than by state authorities.

Heffelfinger said he worked hard to address issues on the reservation such as family violence, Indian gaming and gangs and drugs. When he returns to private practice, he plans to focus on Indian law, among other things.

This was Heffelfinger's second stint as U.S. Attorney; he also served under President Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush.

In a news release, Heffelfinger pointed to several prominent issues while he was U.S. Attorney, including the shootings at Red Lake and school violence, methamphetamine cases, gang violence associated with drugs, white collar crime and terrorism.

During his tenure, his office prosecuted Mohammed Abdullah Warsame, a Minneapolis student charged with conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda, and Mohamad Elzahabi, a Minneapolis resident who allegedly lied to federal agents about the shipment of electronics to Pakistan. Those cases are still pending.

Heffelfinger said he balanced the country's priority of battling terrorism with the traditional duties of a federal prosecutor. After the terrorist attacks, Heffelfinger said, the role of the U.S. Attorney's Office grew from that of the government's lawyer to one of the lead agencies in the prevention of terrorist attacks.

"It's really two events that kind of drove the agenda of Tom's tenure," said B. Todd Jones, now a defense lawyer who served as U.S. Attorney for Minnesota from 1998 to 2001. "One at the front end, which was 9-11. ... The other was the tragedy at Red Lake."

David Lillehaug, the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota from 1994 to 1998, said Heffelfinger faced three big challenges during his tenure: the Red Lake shootings, the growth of methamphetamine cases and terrorism. "He dealt with all of them with tenacity and made considerable progress," Lillehaug said.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will name an interim replacement until President Bush appoints a new U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, Heffelfinger said. He said he expects the entire process to take six to nine months.

When Heffelfinger was selected, he was on a list of finalists forwarded to the White House by U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad. Ramstad took the lead because Minnesota didn't have a Republican U.S. senator and he was the GOP congressman with the most seniority.

This time, Ramstad's office and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's office said they expect Coleman to be the go-to guy for compiling a list.

There are 93 U.S. attorneys in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. They are appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate.

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