On March 21, 2005, Neva Jane Winnecoup Rogers, a 62-year-old White/Caucasian female, was tragically killed in her classroom at Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake, Minnesota. Rogers, a dedicated English teacher, had returned to teaching at the school on the Red Lake Indian Reservation about six years prior, feeling a strong connection to the community and its students.
She was known for her kindness and willingness to support her students, often providing them with personal guidance.
The perpetrator of this act was 16-year-old student Jeff Weise. Before arriving at the high school, Weise had shot and killed his grandfather and his grandfather's companion at their home on the reservation. Armed with his grandfather's police weapons, Weise then drove to the school. He entered Rogers' classroom and, after his initial attempt to shoot her with a shotgun failed, he used a pistol. Eyewitness accounts from students state that as Weise entered the room, Rogers stood openly, praying for the safety of her students whom she had instructed to hide. Weise shot her multiple times.
In addition to Neva Rogers, Weise killed a security guard and five other students at the high school, and wounded several others. Following his rampage through the school, Weise engaged in a gunfight with police officers before ultimately taking his own life. The incident was the sole responsibility of Jeff Weise, who acted as the only suspect and was deceased at the scene, thus precluding any arrests in the matter. The community was left to mourn the loss of Neva Rogers and the other victims of this devastating school shooting.
