BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) - The mother of Red Lake school gunman Jeff Weise has asked to be appointed as trustee for her son's next of kin _ a move that could be a precursor to a wrongful-death suit.
Being appointed as trustee would give Joanne Weise's attorneys standing to seek information such as medical records or investigative reports related to her son and the shootings, the Star Tribune reported on Saturday. Her lawyers declined to talk about the request, which was filed earlier this month, the paper reported.
Sometimes, appointing a trustee allows attorneys greater access to information to investigate whether there's reason for a lawsuit to be filed, attorneys said.
"What they're trying to do right now is have someone officially appointed who will have the authority to explore the causes of action," said Bob McLeod, a probate attorney.
Trust and estate attorney Susan Link said there's a remote possibility that the trustee petition is related to an insurance claim or to tribal rights.
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Joanne Weise is still recovering from a brain injury suffered 6 1/2 years ago when she survived a traffic accident that killed the driver of the car she was in.
Walking with a cane into her bedroom in Bloomington, a big picture of her now-infamous son greets her on her wall. On March 21 the boy tore through the Red Lake Indian Reservation, shooting his grandfather and the man's companion before killing seven people at his high school, then silencing himself in suicide.
His mother said she still doesn't understand what was going through his mind that day. She thinks about it every day, she said, and gets through life with support from her friends, family and roommates.
"There ain't nothing I can do but live," she said.
She remembers some of what happened after her son initiated the second-deadliest shooting spree in U.S. school history _ "all kinds of newsmen" outside her home, her mother telling her what happened, the emotions that swept over her.
"Well, how would you feel?" she said in response to a question. "That's my firstborn; I just (couldn't) believe. He must have went crazy."
Joanne Weise said her son was on Prozac, which has been linked to a greater risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in children.
Raised in Minneapolis, Jeff Weise moved among schools and communities, going from Red Lake to the Twin Cities and back after his mother was injured in 1999. His father, Daryl Lussier Jr., committed suicide in 1997 during a police standoff on the reservation.
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Because of the brain injury, she said her memory comes and goes. She said Jeff was good to his siblings, a younger brother and sister.
She shares a comfortable, plain suburban house with others who have special needs, and does assembly work in Richfield through the Traumatic Brain Injury Program. She watches the Vikings and goes to rehabilitation.
Every night, Joanne Weise said, she thinks about her son and what happened. "He's in my prayers every night," she said. But she said she knows that full answers about her son's actions may not come in her lifetime.
"Not till I go to heaven," she said. "Then I'll know."
