Red Lake Nation Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. gave an extensive interview to The St. Paul Pioneer Press about his son's alleged involvement in the March 21, 2005, shootings on the reservation.

Jourdain acknowledged that his son, Louis, learned something was going to happen. Louis was a friend of Jeff Weise, the 16-year-old who shot and killed nine people on the reservation, including several kids and teachers at the high school, before turning the gun on himself.

But Jourdain said Louis tried to stop Jeff from doing something. "My son, out of all of the people that knew that this boy was talking this way � all of them � my son was the only one to confront this boy and to tell him, 'The way that you are thinking is not right,'" Jourdain told the paper.

Jourdain said the case against his son, who is reportedly charged with conspiracy in connection with the attacks, is built solely on electronic exchanges on the Internet. He said the Department of Justice has amassed 900 pages of conversations between Louis and Jeff.

"The whole case centers on the text messaging on the Internet and that's it," Jourdain told the paper. "He (Louis) said some dingbat things on the Internet and like a lot of teenagers are, they say some goofball things. But that does not necessarily mean that he is a sophisticated, charismatic conspirator."

Louis is being held on sealed charges in federal court. Federal prosecutors sought to charge him as an adult but were rebuffed. Jourdain said he hopes the judge will see Louis is innocent.

"My son was inside that school," Joudain said. "He was running around inside that building just as terrified as anybody else."

Get the Story:
Jourdain: Son tried to deter Red Lake killer (The St. Paul Pioneer Press 10/12)
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Relevant Links:
Red Lake Net News - http://www.rlnn.com
Red Lake Nation - http://www.redlakenation.org
Red Lake High School - http://www.paulbunyan.net/rlschools/hs.htm

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