Apr 25, 2006 5:46 pm US/Central
Student Arrested For New Red Lake Threat
(AP)
Reports of violent threats on the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Reservation have raised new fears in a community trying to recover from last year's deadly school shooting. The FBI said Tuesday it had a juvenile in custody.
Administrators arranged extra security after rumors that a group of students planned an assault at Red Lake High School, the site of a March 2005 attack in which seven people were gunned down.
"At the present time, we believe the alleged threat to the Red Lake High School has been neutralized," Michael Tabman, special agent in charge of the Minneapolis FBI office, said in a statement. "Because this investigation is ongoing and involves a juvenile, there will be no further comment."
The Red Lake Tribal Police Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the FBI were working on the case, Tabman said.
The threats have shaken the community, tribal members say.
"We're trying to heal, we're trying to be strong," school board member Kathryn Beaulieu said Tuesday. "This sets us back, but we're doing everything we can possibly do to make sure it's a safe environment."
Rumors of "some sort of assault" began several weeks ago, interim Principal Brent Colligan said in a letter sent to parents and guardians last week. He said three extra police officers were patrolling the school grounds.
"Every attempt is being made to find those individuals that are responsible for the disruption in your child's education," Colligan's letter said. "It is a team approach involving those listed above (the FBI and Red Lake police) when deciding if school should be in session and if a safe environment can be provided."
Red Lake improved its security measures after last year's shootings, installing new locks and communication systems. A rotation of three armed police officers regularly patrol the schools.
A call from The Associated Press to Colligan on Tuesday was referred to Superintendent Stuart Desjarlait, who did not immediately return it. An FBI spokesman in Minneapolis said he would issue a statement on the matter Tuesday afternoon. The Red Lake public safety director did not immediately return phone messages.
The U.S. Attorney's office had no comment, spokeswoman Karen Bailey said Tuesday.
In March 2005, 16-year-old student Jeff Weise killed a security guard, a teacher and five students at the school before killing himself. Earlier, Weise had killed his grandfather and his grandfather's companion elsewhere on the reservation, located in northern Minnesota.
Francis Brun, a candidate for tribal chairman, said the community should be told details of the threat.
"Your guess is as good as mine right now," Brun said Tuesday. "We can't be left in the dark forever."
Brun's son, Derrick, a security guard at the school, was killed when he tried to stop Weise.
Authorities in at least four communities reported planned assaults on schools last week, on the seventh anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado.
Five teenagers were charged with threatening to carry out a shooting spree at their southeast Kansas high school. Authorities arrested students for similar plots in Alaska, Mississippi and Washington.
"They were fortunate to stop them before they could carry out the threats," Brun said. "I don't know what happens to these young minds to make them so distorted."
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