by Elizabeth Dunbar

Minneapolis, Minnesota (AP)

The chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa on April 23 repeated his defense of his teenage son, the only person arrested in connection with a shooting rampage in March that left 10 people dead.

Floyd Jourdain’s son, Louis, remains in custody a month after 16-year-old Jeff Weise shot nine people – five of them fellow students – before turning the gun on himself. Authorities have said little about the allegations against Louis, 16, because it’s a juvenile case and the investigation is ongoing.

A source told The Associated Press on condition of confideniality last month that the younger Jourdain was arrested as part of an investigation into a potentially wider plot. Floyd Jourdain has maintained his son’s innocence.

“He is being asked to bear the cost of this unspeakable act,” the elder Jourdain said April 23 at a healing ceremony for the victims. “If that be the case of it, then it would definitely be one of America’s greatest travesties.”

Weise, who had a history of depression, first shot to death his grandfather and his grandfather’s girlfriend at a home on the reservation, then went to Red Lake High School and killed a security guard, a teacher and five students.

At the ceremony at St. Mark’s Cathedral, a candle was lit for each of the 10 victims as their names were read. Traditional Ojibwe drumming and chanting followed.

More than 200 people, including many Red Lake members who live in Minneapolis, listened as Jourdain, Tribal Secretary Judy Roy and spiritual adviser Thomas Stillday paid tribune to the victims.

“I choose to remember it as a day when love overtook us,” Roy said of the hope that she’s seen come out of the tragedy. “We have hope; we are strong people.”

The Rt. Rev. James Jelinek, the Episcopal bishop of Minnesota, encouraged people to show compassion and get rid of their anger as a part of the healing process. “We have to let go of all those things that will divide us,” he said.