'He asked if Ryan believed in God then shot him'

THE suspect in the worst US school massacre since Columbine smiled and waved as he gunned down five students, a teacher and a guard, asking one of his victims whether he believed in God, witnesses said.

The neo-Nazi teen's grandfather and the man's wife also were found dead, and the boy killed himself.

Reggie Graves, a student at Red Lake High School, said he was in class on Monday when he heard the gunman blast his way past the metal detector at the school's entrance, killing a guard.

Then, in a nearby classroom, he heard the gunman say something to his friend Ryan: "He asked Ryan if he believed in God," Graves said.

"And then he shot him."

The death toll at the Red Lake Indian Reservation in far northern Minnesota made it America's worst school shooting since the rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in April 1999.

The victims included the gunman's grandfather, the man's wife, a school security guard, a teacher and five other students. At least 14 others were wounded, officials said.

Police said the gunman killed himself after exchanging fire with officers.

Red Lake fire director Roman Stately said the gunman had two handguns and a shotgun.

The shooter was Jeff Weise, a 17-year-old student who had been placed in the school's Homebound programme for some violation of policy, said school board member Kathryn Beaulieu.

Students in the programme stay at home and are tutored by a travelling teacher. Beaulieu said she didn't know what Weise's violation was.

During the rampage, teachers herded students from one room to another, trying to move away from the sound of the shooting, said Graves Some pleaded with the gunman to stop.

"You could hear a girl saying, 'No, Jeff. Quit! Quit! Leave me alone. Why are you doing this?' Boom, boom, boom, and then no more screaming," student Sondra Hegstrom said.

Student Ashley Morrison said she heard shots, then saw the gunman's face peering though a door window of a classroom where she was hiding with other students. After banging at the door, he walked away and she heard more shots.

"I can't even count how many gunshots you heard, there was over 20 ... There were people screaming, and they made us get behind the desk," she said.

FBI spokesman Paul McCabe said the gunman exchanged gunfire with Red Lake police in a hallway, then retreated to a classroom, where he was believed to have shot himself.

Relatives said Weise was a loner who wore black and was teased by other children. Relatives said his father committed suicide four years ago and his mother was living in a nursing home after suffering brain injuries in a car accident.

Weise admired Adolf Hitler and was a suspect following threats made at his school last year, he revealed in an internet forum frequented by neo-Nazis.

He claimed to have been questioned by police about a threat to "shoot up the school" last year.

"I guess I've always carried a natural admiration for Hitler and his ideals, and his courage to take on larger nations," Weise wrote.

He said he was interested in finding like-minded people.

"Once I commit myself to something, I stay until the end," he wrote.