Covenanter Discovers Nephew Among Shooting Victims

BEMIDJI, MN (March 23, 2005) - A Native American lay leader at the Evangelical Covenant Church went to the local hospital ready to minister to families in the immediate aftermath of Monday's shooting at the Red Lake High School and discovered his nephew was one of the victims.

Fourteen-year-old Ryan Auginash is the nephew of Darrell Auginash, who teaches a class to Native Americans at the church. The teenager was moved out of the intensive care unit at North Country Regional Hospital on Wednesday, according to Dean Nelson, pastor of congregational life at the Bemidji church located about a half hour from Red Lake.

Darrell, who also is a minister at First National Ministries on the reservation on which the shooting took place, turned a corner in the hospital and discovered his sister Trudy Kingbird, who told him that Ryan had been shot. "He went there to minister and then needed to be ministered to," Nelson said.

Nelson was one of the first pastors at the hospital as a member of an emergency response team comprised of area clergy. He learned of the shooting when he received a call saying that there had been a tragedy.

"I went up there not knowing what I would see," Nelson said. He was there as ambulances brought in the wounded. "There were things there that nobody should have to see. The head wounds were terrible." Six boys were brought to the hospital, three of whom suffered head wounds, according to published reports. A meeting area was set aside for the families, and Nelson would escort them into the emergency room to see the victims.

Ryan told family members that he saw a bright light when he was shot with the bullet that pierced his lung and lodged in the back of his rib. "He described it as the presence of Jesus," Nelson said.

Ryan's brother, Andrew, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he had heard gunshots and then hollering. He went into the hallway where he saw the shooter. "The shooter came around the corner and pointed a gun," Andrew told the newspaper, who added that his brother felt the wind knocked out of his chest and then realized he had been shot.

Ryan already has forgiven the shooter, Andrew says. Still, "he's pretty scared and he doesn't know if he wants to go to public school." Weise is accused of killing four adults and five teenagers and wounding seven others before killing himself.

Other members of the church also were affected by the tragedy. The school security guard who was killed, Derrick Brun, was the cousin of a church member. Two physicians, surgeon Mark Claussen and family physician Neil Skogerboe, administered medical treatment. "It's pretty hard to see these kids in that kind of shape," Skogerboe said.

Counseling teams are working with medical teams today to help them deal emotionally with the shooting's aftermath. Skogerboe, who is an elder at the church, said he did not feel it necessary because "I have the good fortune of having some people I can share my heart with." That included a discussion with church members early Wednesday morning.

Many people are struggling to deal with what happened. "I had several people in my office just crying their hearts out," Skogerboe said. "They're not sleeping well, but everyone has their own way of dealing with things."

Skogerboe said training had helped the emergency response team at the hospital, who were well prepared for the casualties when they arrived at the hospital. He added that the team had to treat several gunshot wounds from a fight outside a bar the day after Christmas several years ago. "But this was an entirely different thing."

To read more of events in Red Lake, visit the newspaper website at Pioneer Press. The accompanying photo was taken by Pioneer Press photographer John Doman and is used by permission. The photo shows Darrell Auginash (at left facing camera) who led a group of a dozen teenagers and a couple of adults in a prayer for the injured and dead outside of North Country Regional Hospital in Bemidji Tuesday morning.

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