Why Kids Kill by Peter Langman PhD

Author:Peter Langman, PhD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2009-09-18T04:00:00+00:00

“16 Years of Accumulated Rage”

If Evan Ramsey had a family curse, he was not alone. Jeffrey Weise had a similar family history and a similar “curse.” In fact, Jeffrey’s family history was perhaps more traumatic than that of any other school shooter. Although there are many gaps in the story, it is clear that trouble began early in Jeffrey’s life.

Jeffrey was a Native American of the Ojibwa (Chippewa) tribe. He lived alternately in Minneapolis and Red Lake, Minnesota, which is a reservation of approximately 5,000 people. Although his parents were never married, he spent his first three months with his mother and father, Joanna Weise and Daryl Lussier, Jr. Then, for an undisclosed reason, from the age of three months to three years, Jeffrey lived with his father. His mother stayed in Minneapolis, while Jeffrey moved with his father to Red Lake.

At age three, Jeffrey moved back in with his mother. Life with her was far from stable. When Jeffrey was four, Joanna Weise was jailed for driving while intoxicated. A few months later she was jailed again, this time for assault. She later became involved with a man named Timothy DesJarlait and had two children with him.

Jeffrey was shuffled among family members, living for a time with his mother, a grandfather, and a grandmother. Occasionally he even spent the night at the house of a woman who was a “cultural coordinator” at the Red Lake Middle School. He was also in and out of foster homes. Apart from his mother’s brief incarcerations, the frequent shifting of homes and caregivers was a result of two family tragedies.

On July 21, 1997, Jeffrey’s father, Daryl Lussier, Jr., engaged in a daylong armed standoff with police. To make matters worse, Jeffrey’s grandfather, Daryl Lussier, Sr., was one of the police officers involved. Jeffrey’s grandfather tried to talk his son into surrendering without hurting anyone, but the attempt failed. Jeffrey’s father chose not to surrender and killed himself. He was 31 years old. Jeffrey was 8. This was the first tragedy.

Approximately two years later, Jeffrey’s mother and a cousin went out drinking. The cousin was driving drunk and got into a car accident; she was killed. Jeffrey’s mother survived, but suffered brain damage. She went to a nursing home, where she was wheelchair bound and had to learn basic skills all over again. This was the second tragedy.

In between these traumatic events, Jeffrey’s mother married Timothy DesJarlait, who was said to have had a drinking problem. He left her after she was in the car accident. When she could no longer function as a mother, the stepfamily took in the couple’s two children, but did not take Jeffrey. Thus, within two years, Jeffrey lost his father to suicide, his mother to brain damage, and his stepfather and half-siblings to separation.

These losses were not the only sources of agony in young Jeffrey’s life. Even before his mother’s car accident, she had provided little in the way of love and nurturing: “My mom used to abuse me a lot when I was little.

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