Relatives: Did meds play a role?

Chuck Haga, = Star Tribune

March 25, 2005 REDLAKE0325.WEISE=20

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BEMIDJI, MINN. -- Jeff Weise had "a good relationship" with the = grandfather he shot and killed on Monday as prelude to his deadly = assault=20 on students and others at Red Lake High School, according to = relatives who=20 are struggling to understand what might have pushed the teenager = from=20 sometimes bizarre behavior to mass murder and suicide.

They have sifted through the traumas of his childhood: his = father's=20 suicide, the car accident that left his mother with reduced mental = capacity, the shuttling between the Red Lake Reservation and the = Twin=20 Cities, and the taunts of peers over his appearance, size and = outsider=20 behavior.

They wondered, too, about medication he was supposedly taking = for=20 depression, and a recent increase in his prescribed dosage.

Lee Cook, director of the American Indian Cultural Center at = Bemidji=20 State University and a first cousin to Sgt. Daryl (Dash) Lussier, = the=20 grandfather, talked about the tragedy Thursday after meeting on = the=20 reservation with Lussier's brother, three daughters and other = family=20 members.

Jeff Weise

Polaris = Images

"The daughters said Jeff loved his grandfather, and his = grandfather=20 loved him," Cook said. "There had never been any serious = differences or=20 harsh words between them.

"They were surprised by all of this, but they were stunned he = would=20 shoot his grandfather."

The .22-caliber rifle that Weise apparently used to kill = Lussier and=20 his companion, Michele Sigana, "might have been Dash's rifle, one = he kept=20 around for the kids for hunting," Cook said.

Dosage increased

Weise's relatives "knew he had a problem with depression, and = they took=20 him to treatment," Cook said. "He was getting counseling." His = medication=20 dosage had been increased a week earlier, Cook added.

His grandmother, Shelda Lussier, 54, said he saw a mental = health=20 professional at Red Lake Hospital on Feb. 21, the same day his=20 prescription was refilled for 60 milligrams a day of Prozac, which = he had=20 been taking since last summer, the Washington Post reported.

Studies have linked Prozac and similar antidepressants to a = greater=20 risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in kids. In October, the = Food and=20 Drug Administration revised the drugs' packaging to warn health=20 professionals that they should closely monitor young patients when = an=20 antidepressant is prescribed or the dose is changed.

Prozac's manufacturer said monitoring patients being treated = for=20 depression is critical, especially if they are children.

Weise, in hundreds of postings attributed to him on the = Internet over=20 the past year or so, noted that he was on antidepressants, was = going=20 through therapy in Thief River Falls and had attempted suicide at = least=20 once by cutting his wrists.

In a posting in January, Weise also wrote of his regret over = not having=20 ended his life and hinted that another attempt could be on the = way.=20 Friends of Weise said this week that he had tried to kill himself = earlier=20 this year.

School officials and others have refused to discuss his medical = situation except to confirm that he was placed on "homebound = status" this=20 year for an unspecified medical problem.

Relatives also "knew he spent time on the Internet, but they = didn't=20 really know what he was into there," Cook said, and reports = detailing=20 Weise's postings on a Nazi website have them shaking their = heads.

Weise, under a variety of user names, also visited other sites = dealing=20 with everything from government conspiracies to surviving school=20 shootings. Last fall he posted a bloody animated video on the = Internet in=20 which four people are shot to death before the gunman shoots = himself. "He=20 was brighter than usual and had a vocabulary more like a college = student=20 than a 16-year-old," Cook said.

School to school

Weise also had a traumatic early childhood, moving from school = to=20 school and experiencing the loss of both parents before he was 10 = years=20 old. His father, Daryl Lussier Jr., committed suicide in July 1997 = during=20 a police stand-off on the reservation. Weise's mother, Joanne, = suffered=20 brain damage in 1999 when she and a friend crashed their car after = drinking.

Shortly after his father's suicide, Weise was enrolled in the = fourth=20 grade at B.F. Pearson Elementary School in Shakopee in September = 1997. He=20 stayed until the first week of his fifth-grade year, at which = point he was=20 withdrawn and enrolled at Bluff Creek Elementary School in = Chaska.

Bluff Creek Principal Cath Gallagher said Weise left school in = April=20 1998, about a month after his mother's traffic accident.

In his Internet postings, Weise said that before her accident = his=20 mother would hit him often, yell at him and tell him that his = birth had=20 been a mistake.

According to his Internet writings, Weise dressed in a Goth = style with=20 a long black coat, black boots and at times red hair spiked into = devil's=20 horns.

"I just don't know if anybody gave a lot of credence to the = turmoil=20 this guy lived with," Cook said. People said he was "just going = through a=20 phase" with his unusual appearance and outsider attitudes, "and = that=20 probably was devastating to him."

"I think you can get to the point where you feel you have no = relief.=20 Maybe he thought his grandpa should have been more cognizant of = that."=20

Visitation for Lussier and his girlfriend, Michelle Sigana, = began=20 Thursday at the Humanities Building in Red Lake. Funeral services = for them=20 will be held there at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Chuck Haga is at crhaga@startribune.com.

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