RED LAKE, Minn. — He wore black clothes, eyeliner and may have called himself "the Angel of Death" -- in German -- on a neo-Nazi website. He drew ghoulish cartoons of skeletons. One, displayed in his English classroom about a month ago, bore the caption, "March to the death song 'til your boots fill with blood."
The FBI on Tuesday identified that troubled student, 16-year-old Jeffrey Weise, as the shooter responsible for the bloodiest episode of school violence since the 1999 Columbine massacre in Colorado.
On Monday, Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather's companion before heading to Red Lake High School, where he fatally shot five students, a teacher and a security guard. Then he killed himself. Seven others were wounded.
Students and others on the Red Lake Indian Reservation struggled to understand what set Weise off. Some said the muscular teenager was quiet and was teased at school. Others said Weise was liked.
"Right now, we are in utter disbelief and shock," said Floyd Jourdain Jr., chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. "Our community is just devastated by this event. We have never seen anything like this in the history of our tribe."
Weise had no prior police record, FBI Agent Michael Tabman said. "We have no theories as to a motive at this time," he added.
School officials said Weise had been home-tutored recently as part of a disciplinary action. They would not disclose the reason for the punishment.
"I think everyone is at a loss as to what this was all about," said Preston Graves, 57, the owner of a small food store and the father of a 14-year-old who hid in a classroom while Weise went on his shooting spree. Graves' son, Reggie, survived.
A dozen students who gathered Tuesday at Beaulieu's Gas & Store said Weise was interested in heavy metal, hard rock and gothic music. They said he often wore black T-shirts and a long black coat.
The FBI said that school computers and others the teen had access to were being examined. Investigators were trying to find out whether Weise had frequented a neo-Nazi website.
An Internet posting last year signed by "Todesengel" (German for "Angel of Death") was linked to the shooter. It began: "Hello All, my name is Jeff Weise, a Native American from the Red Lake 'Indian' reservation in Minnesota." Weise said he was interested in joining the Native American Nationalists, a separatist group.
In a reply the same night to a welcoming note from the organization, he wrote: "I guess I've always carried a natural admiration for Hitler and his ideals, and his courage to take on larger nations.
"When I was growing up, I was taught (like others) that Nazis were (are) evil and that Hitler was a very evil man," he continued. "Of course, not for a second did I believe this."
Within weeks, Todesengel wrote to the same organization: "By the way, I was blamed for a threat on the school I attend because someone said they were going to shoot up the school on 4/20, Hitler's birthday, and just because I claim being a National Socialist, guess whom they've pinned?"
A month later, Todesengel wrote that "the school threat" had passed, and "I was cleared as a suspect."
Weise also may have contributed to an Internet forum called "Rise of the Dead," where participants wrote stories about zombies. Weise reportedly used the Hotmail handle "Blades11," and in one posting identified himself as being from Red Lake.
Last month, he agreed to help write a zombie story. But he warned that life at home was "kind of rocky right now so I might disappear unexpectedly."
Weise's father committed suicide four years ago and his mother lives in a nursing home -- comatose after an automobile accident. He split his time between the homes of his grandfather and grandmother.
Authorities on Tuesday said Weise used a .22-caliber weapon to kill his grandfather, Daryl Lussier, 58, a sergeant in the Red Lake Police Department, and his companion, Michele Sigana, 32. He apparently took two other weapons from Lussier's house -- a handgun and a shotgun.
The teenager also put on his grandfather's bulletproof vest and gun belt, said the FBI's Tabman. Weise then drove his grandfather's marked squad car to the one-story brick high school.
Just after 3 p.m., Weise was confronted outside the school entrance by the unarmed security guard, 28-year-old Derrick Brun. He shot Brun dead.
Weise stormed through a metal detector and saw a popular English teacher, Neva Rogers, 52, and a group of students in the hallway, Tabman said. When Rogers herded the students into a classroom, Weise followed.
"It is then that he opened fire," Tabman said.
He shot Rogers first, then fired on the students. Dwayne Lewis, Chase Lussier, Chanelle Rosebear and Thurlene Stillday, all age 15, and 14-year-old Alicia Spike were killed.
Preston Graves said his son had left that classroom only minutes before. He was nearby, in a room that had been darkened so students could watch a movie about Shakespeare.
