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BEMIDJI, Minn. (Reuters) - A 17-year-old who killed nine people and himself on a Minnesota Indian reservation identified himself as an "angel of death" and a "NativeNazi" on Internet postings, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Officials sealed off the remote town of Red Lake, 60 miles south of the Canadian border, while they investigated Monday's bloodbath, the worst U.S. school shooting since the 1999 Columbine massacre.
Floyd Jourdain Jr., chairman of the Red Lake Indian council, called the tragedy "the darkest day in the history of our tribe."
The shooter was Red Lake High School sophomore Jeff Weise, according to witnesses and school officials.
Weise identified himself in Internet site postings as "Todesengel," German for "angel of death" and "NativeNazi," the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.
He also claimed to have been questioned by police in 2004 about an alleged plot to shoot up the school on the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birthday, but said he had nothing to do with that, the report said.
"I guess I've always carried a natural admiration for Hitler and his ideals, and his courage to take on larger nations," the newspaper quoted Weise as saying in one forum used by neo-Nazis.
Other reports described Weise as someone who was often teased at the school.
Weise's rampage began when he shot dead his grandfather, identified as veteran tribal police officer Daryl "Dash" Lussier, and Lussier's girlfriend at their home.
The gunman then drove his grandfather's police car to the school, where he killed a male security guard, a teacher and five students before taking his own, the FBIsaid.
"We believe the shooter was acting alone," said FBI agent Paul McCabe, adding the dead at the school were all in one room.
The gunman fired at doors of classrooms barricaded by terrified students and teachers, witnesses said.
"He came into the school and the first person he shot was the security officer at the door," said Molly Miron, editor of the Bemidji Pioneer newspaper. "One of the students told me he pointed his gun at a boy and then changed his mind, smiled, waved at him, and shot somebody else."
Police, alerted to the massacre when students used cell phones to call for help, said they exchanged gunfire with the gunman, who ducked into a classroom and shot himself.
Witnesses said he was armed with a shotgun or rifle and at least one handgun.
It was the deadliest U.S. school shooting since the April 20, 1999, Columbine High School massacre in Colorado in which 14 students -- including the two killers -- and a teacher died.
The Minnesota reservation is controlled by the Ojibwa tribe, commonly known as the Chippewa, which says it has roughly 10,000 members, about half of whom live on the reservation.
The tribe runs its own affairs and operates casinos in the state and a small casino in Red Lake, 35 miles north of Bemidji on the shores of Lower Red Lake. But the casinos are not as successful as others in more populous areas and unemployment on the reservation is high.
It was the latest multiple shooting in a month of deadly gun violence in the United States, including the deaths of seven congregants at a church service near Milwaukee and four people in an Atlanta courtroom escape.
Officials sealed off the remote town of Red Lake, 60 miles south of the Canadian border, while they investigated Monday's bloodbath, the worst U.S. school shooting since the 1999 Columbine massacre.
Floyd Jourdain Jr., chairman of the Red Lake Indian council, called the tragedy "the darkest day in the history of our tribe."
The shooter was Red Lake High School sophomore Jeff Weise, according to witnesses and school officials.
Weise identified himself in Internet site postings as "Todesengel," German for "angel of death" and "NativeNazi," the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.
He also claimed to have been questioned by police in 2004 about an alleged plot to shoot up the school on the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birthday, but said he had nothing to do with that, the report said.
"I guess I've always carried a natural admiration for Hitler and his ideals, and his courage to take on larger nations," the newspaper quoted Weise as saying in one forum used by neo-Nazis.
Other reports described Weise as someone who was often teased at the school.
Weise's rampage began when he shot dead his grandfather, identified as veteran tribal police officer Daryl "Dash" Lussier, and Lussier's girlfriend at their home.
The gunman then drove his grandfather's police car to the school, where he killed a male security guard, a teacher and five students before taking his own, the FBIsaid.
"We believe the shooter was acting alone," said FBI agent Paul McCabe, adding the dead at the school were all in one room.
The gunman fired at doors of classrooms barricaded by terrified students and teachers, witnesses said.
"He came into the school and the first person he shot was the security officer at the door," said Molly Miron, editor of the Bemidji Pioneer newspaper. "One of the students told me he pointed his gun at a boy and then changed his mind, smiled, waved at him, and shot somebody else."
Police, alerted to the massacre when students used cell phones to call for help, said they exchanged gunfire with the gunman, who ducked into a classroom and shot himself.
Witnesses said he was armed with a shotgun or rifle and at least one handgun.
It was the deadliest U.S. school shooting since the April 20, 1999, Columbine High School massacre in Colorado in which 14 students -- including the two killers -- and a teacher died.
The Minnesota reservation is controlled by the Ojibwa tribe, commonly known as the Chippewa, which says it has roughly 10,000 members, about half of whom live on the reservation.
The tribe runs its own affairs and operates casinos in the state and a small casino in Red Lake, 35 miles north of Bemidji on the shores of Lower Red Lake. But the casinos are not as successful as others in more populous areas and unemployment on the reservation is high.
It was the latest multiple shooting in a month of deadly gun violence in the United States, including the deaths of seven congregants at a church service near Milwaukee and four people in an Atlanta courtroom escape.