An upscale high school in a fast-growing metro area. A middle-class high school in a hardworking Midwestern community. And now a security-laden school on a poverty-stricken American Indian reservation. The school shootings last week in Red Lake reiterate a couple of somber truths about this deadly but too familiar occurrence: It knows few boundaries, and it almost always involves a suspect struggling to cope with those traumatic teenage years.

The question remains, though: How does society help these teens before they turn to violence?

While the answer remains elusive, each tragic rampage seems to shed a little more light on the importance of people not just recognizing warning signs, but knowing where to look for them.

The case of Jeff Weise may point to the importance of adults monitoring their children’s Internet use. The 16-year-old who killed nine people and himself apparently used cyberspace to vent his frustration, anger, depression and hate.

While many Red Lake people who knew Weise described him as a loner and at least one said he talked of shooting up the school, none of their comments alluded to the powerful and troubling statements attributed to him on various Web sites. Neither did they speak of the racist Web sites investigators have said Weise visited.

Meanwhile, a computer animation attributed to Weise on TheSmokingGun.com shows a person with an automatic rifle shooting two people in the head and a third in the chest before blowing up a squad car with a grenade and then shooting what appears to be a Ku Klux Klan member in the head. The animated shooter then puts the barrel of a handgun in his mouth and pulls the trigger as the screen turns red and the clip ends with the closing credit screen. Bright red blood splashes across the black-and-white drawings, which are accompanied by the sounds of gunfire and an explosion. The Web site said the animation first was posted in October on a popular multimedia Web site.

FBI spokesman Paul McCabe said the agency is subpoenaing records of Internet service providers so it can verify whatever Weise may have posted.

Assuming Weise did indeed post such things and visit hate-based Web sites, people &045; be they parents, peers or trained professionals &045; will definitely want to add cyberspace to the list of things that could signal a troubled teenager.

Will it be a cure-all? No. But it could be another place to find clues and ultimately reach out to teens before it’s too late.

&045; St. Cloud Times