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10 Die in Minnesota School Shooting on Reservation

HeadlineMar 22, 2005

10 people are dead in Minnesota after a high school student went on a shooting rampage Monday on the Red Lake Native American reservation. Police say a 17-year-old student killed his grandfather and his grandfather’s girlfriend at their home. He then traveled to his high school where he shot dead five students, a teacher and a security guard. Another 12 people were injured. One student described being inside, “Boom, boom, boom, couple more shots went off and they told us to get down.” After the shooting, police say the student then shot himself. It is the nation’s worst school shooting since the Columbine High School massacre that left 15 people dead in 1999. Monday’s shooting took place on the reservation of the Red Lake Chippewa Tribe. It is located in a remote area about 240 miles north of Minneapolis and about 75 miles south of the Canadian border. The Associated Press reports that the tribe is one of the poorest in the states. About 40 percent of the reservation’s residents are unemployed and live below the poverty line. Red Lake High School has 300 students and is one of the worst performing schools in the state. The school scored second-lowest out of all Minnesota schools last year on tests for 11th-grade math and third-lowest for 10th-grade reading.

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