On a tragic day in Red Lake, Minnesota, the life of 15-year-old Chanelle Star Rosebear was cut short. A member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, the female student was among the victims of a school shooting on March 21, 2005. Friends and family remembered her as a vibrant girl who played basketball, was a cheerleader, and always seemed to have a smile on her face.
Chanelle had been attending a boarding school in Oklahoma but had convinced her mother to let her return home to Red Lake.
The perpetrator of the violence was 16-year-old student Jeff Weise. Before descending on Red Lake Senior High School, Weise had killed his grandfather, a tribal police sergeant, and his grandfather's girlfriend at their home. He then took his grandfather's police-issued weapons and vehicle and drove to the high school. At approximately 2:45 p.m., he began his assault, fatally shooting an unarmed security guard at the entrance before moving through the hallways and into a classroom.
Inside a classroom, Weise opened fire, killing a teacher and several students, including Chanelle Rosebear. The entire tragic event at the school lasted only a few minutes. After exchanging gunfire with responding police officers, the suspect, Jeff Weise, retreated into a classroom and took his own life. In total, he killed seven people at the school, in addition to the two victims at his grandfather's home, and wounded at least nine others before the rampage ended with his suicide.
As Weise died by his own hand at the scene, there was no arrest or trial for the killings. The investigation that followed focused on understanding the motive and whether anyone else was involved in planning the attack. Investigators examined Weise's troubled background, which included the suicide of his father and a mother living in a nursing home due to a severe car accident. They also found he had been bullied and had a history of posting on extremist websites online. While the investigation explored potential co-conspirators, Weise was identified as the sole shooter.
