Navajo leaders give condolences over Red Lake school shootings

Independent Staff

WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. and Speaker Lawrence Morgan offered their condolences to the victims of the school shooting at the Red Lake Reservation earlier this week.

"We are all terribly saddened by the news about our relatives on their land in Red Lake in Minnesota," Shirley said in a statement issued Tuesday. "Unfortunately, the sad truth is, I believe these kinds of incidents are evidence of Natives losing their cultural and traditional ways that have sustained us as a people for centuries."

Jeff Weise killed nine people and wounded seven at a Minnesota school on Monday after he gunned down his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend. He apparently killed himself after trading gunfire with police officers. The school was located on the Red Lake Reservation.

Morgan offered his condolences.

"I...ask the media and members of the public not to rush to judgment in these types of situations as we do not yet have all the facts," Morgan said in a statement. "Instead, I ask that we concentrate on the lives that have been impacted. This is a reminder that Native American tribes are not immune to the events that happen nationwide. It is also a reminder that we need to offer assistance to our Native youth in any way possible to avoid these types of tragedies from repeating anywhere else."

Shirley offered his prayers as well.

"There are real needs out there and this incident is a heart-rending way to be reminded of that," Shirley said. "We must remain prayerful in this time of need among the families and our relatives in Red Lake."