The violence began at 2:47 p.m. when sixteen-year-old Jeff Weise shot his grandfather, Daryl Lussier Sr., a 58-year-old sergeant with the Red Lake tribal police, as he slept. He then killed his grandfather's girlfriend, 32-year-old Michelle Sigana. Weise took his grandfather's police-issue weapons -- a Glock 22 pistol and a Remington 870 shotgun -- along with a bulletproof vest, and drove the police squad car to Red Lake Senior High School, arriving at 2:49 p.m. At the main entrance, he shot and killed unarmed security guard Derrick Brun, 28. Moving through the corridors, Weise entered a study hall and killed English teacher Neva Rogers, 62, and students Alicia White, 14; Thurlene Stillday, 15; Chanelle Rosebear, 15; Chase Lussier, 15; and Dewayne Lewis, 15. After exchanging gunfire with arriving police, Weise turned the shotgun on himself at 2:58 p.m. From the first shot to the last, the entire rampage lasted eleven minutes.

Jeff Weise was born on August 8, 1988. By the time he arrived at Red Lake Senior High School with a shotgun, nearly every pillar of his young life had collapsed. In 1997, when he was eight, his father died by suicide after a days-long standoff with Red Lake tribal police -- the same department where his grandfather served as sergeant. Two years later, his mother suffered severe brain damage in an alcohol-related car accident and was committed to a nursing home. Weise was placed in the custody of his paternal grandmother and moved from Minneapolis, where he had spent most of his childhood, to the reservation. He eventually moved in with his grandfather and Sigana, who gave him his own room. By 2004, he had attempted suicide twice. His aunts arranged hospitalization and ongoing treatment, which included counseling and a prescription for Prozac. He had recently been placed in homebound schooling for breaking school rules.

The night after the shooting, community members gathered in the high school gymnasium for a healing ceremony. They performed traditional Ojibwe ceremonies and prayed. The response from the broader nation was slower to arrive. Some Native American leaders publicly criticized what they perceived as muted attention from Washington compared to other school shootings. In April 2005, the Red Lake Band distributed 15 grants of $5,000 each from a memorial fund that had received $200,000 in donations from across the country. One grant went to Weise's own relatives, to help pay for his funeral and burial. Some objected, but a tribal spokesman explained that the family carried "a double burden" and was not eligible for state victim compensation. Security guard Derrick Brun received special recognition for his bravery, including acknowledgment from President George W. Bush. Sophomore Jeffrey May, who was wounded while trying to attack Weise, was later featured in Reader's Digest as an everyday hero.

On July 21, 2006, the Red Lake school district reached a settlement with the families of the victims, agreeing to pay $1,000,000 -- the maximum amount allowed by Minnesota law. Of that sum, $900,000 went immediately to 21 families, with $100,000 set aside for future distribution. Louis Jourdain, the son of Tribal Chairman Floyd "Buck" Jourdain Jr., was arrested on March 28, 2005, and charged with conspiracy to commit murder based on email exchanges with Weise related to plans for the attack. The conspiracy charge was eventually dropped, but Jourdain pleaded guilty to transmitting threatening messages through the Internet. The shooting remains the deadliest school attack in Minnesota history. A 2004 study had already found that a high proportion of Red Lake high school students had contemplated suicide. The tragedy exposed the depth of crisis facing an isolated reservation community -- limited employment, geographic remoteness, and intergenerational trauma -- while the community's response, rooted in Ojibwe tradition and collective grief, demonstrated a resilience that no headline could fully capture.