President Bush Honors Slain School Security Officer

Apr 1, 2005 12:00 PM

President Bush has praised Minnesota high school security guard Derrick Brun for courage and valor after the officer saved the lives of students by confronting the teenaged gunman who shot and killed him.

“Derrick's bravery cost him his life, and all Americans honor him,” Bush said March 26 in his first public comments about the March 21 shootings on Minnesota's Red Lake Indian reservation.

Brun, a former police officer, was working at the doors of Red Lake High School when 16-year-old student Jeff Weise approached with a loaded shotgun and other weapons, the Associated Press reports.

“Although he was unarmed, Derrick ignored the pleas of a colleague to run for his life,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. “By engaging the assailant, he bought vital time for a fellow security guard to rush a group of students to safety.”

Besides Brun, Weise shot to death five students and a teacher, before killing himself. Earlier in the day, he had shot to death his grandfather and the man's girlfriend.

The FBI is investigating the possibility that a coordinated attack on targets beyond the Red Lake campus may have been planned by Weise and other students. The alleged plot was believed to be planned over a period of weeks and to include unspecified sites in the community.

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