School shooting in Red LAke

EAP 1 Newstalk
Mar.4.2005. Sang Yeob Lee

School shooting

The article is about the school shooting in Red lake which is Indian reservation in Minnesota. Jeff Weise had been depressed and had a difficult family background. His father committed suicide in 1997 and his mother has lived in the nursing house because of her brain injury following a car accident. Jeff was 16 years old and an indian. He killed seven people who were students, one teacher and unarmed one security guard by kind of a rifle gun, shot other people and they were hurt and finally he also committed suicide at Red Lake highschool in Mar.21.2005.
I think teenagers crimes are caused by unhappy family without hope like poverty, divorced parent, and domestic violence. Happy home is most important for our children even though one parent is not in their home. Also in this country school system has a problem. Teachers, friends, counselors around him already knew his mental disease and poor back ground, but he were not helped constructively and positively. Policy for minor race indian did not work for indian societies appropriately. If we leave the troubled high students, then serious teenager's crime will be repeated.
I interviewed with Caroline and Suzan, who are SIU students, about school shooting. The reason high school students brought the gun is to scare other students and other students provoked them. And they agreed with restricting possession of the gun by law. Metal detectors at all entrances and security guards help to protect the students in high school. They think shooting shows superiority in high school. And they believed problems of family might lead to that kind of problem. They told me that high school students got the gun mainly from their parents, the street or hunter shop.

Project Report “School Shootings”

Takashi Nishie
EAP1 Newstalk Class
May 3. 2005

Our topic is “School Shootings”. In 1999, two high school students rampaged with guns in the Columbine high school in Denver, Colorado and 25 people were killed. In addition, two attackers shot themselves in the library. After 6 years in Red Lake high school in Minnesota, the same thing has happened. A 16-year-old school killer caused 9 people to die by gun and then committed suicide. Moreover, he had created the violent film months before his rampage. There are some similarities between the two shooting rampages other than the fact that they shot themselves finally. In the former case, there is the information that the suspects had faced a bully. In the latter case, the suspect’s father had committed suicide 4 years before his rampage and his mother was in the hospital. So that means, they were the weak of society and nobody could notice a sickness in their heart, so they had no ways of overcoming their problem without a gun.

I had an interview about "School Shootings" with a woman who has two children, 17 and 12 years old. She said that some kids could get the gun from their house easily and also they could buy the air gun at the shop. And she wonders if they wanted to show someone their power, or proof of ability “I can do this!”, “I have the power”. Furthermore, her opinion is that we have to notice their signal and understand that their mind is unbalanced. And also the most important thing is that the kids know each other and make a relationship with teachers and parents. In addition she also thinks both the family and school, parents and teachers, should have responsibility and take more care of the kids.

Interview on Campus

Takashi Nishie
EAP1 Newstalk Class
April 27. 2005

I had an interview about "School Shootings" with a woman who has two children, 17 and 12 years old. She said that some kids could get the gun from their house easily and also they could buy the air gun at the shop. And she wonders they wanted to show someone their power, or proof of ability "I can do this!".
Furthermore, her opinion is that a huge school should worry about this issue more than small school because in the small high school, the students know very well each other. In addition she also thinks both of the family and school, parents and teachers, should have responsibility to the kids.

Article "School killer made violent film"

Takashi Nishie
EAP1 Newstalk Class
April 26. 2005

This article describes that the high school student who shot at Red Lake and committed suicide had created a violent animated film before his rampage. And also this article said that this teenager was in peculiar circumstance. His father died four years ago and his mother is in a nursing home in Minneapolis because of brain damaged in a car accident.
If someone could support his life like his parents or notice his mental health, this tragedy might not occur.

Introduction

This Weblog is for a CESL News Talk project on "School Shootings".