Elliot Olsen, an attorney with the law firm of Pritzker | Ruohonen & Associates, P.A. was interviewed by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune regarding the Red Lake School shooting case. The following is an excerpt from the resulting article:

Families of people killed or injured in the 2005 Red Lake school shooting are suing a Bloomington-based environmental consulting firm that sold the school district a crisis management security plan.

Lawyers for the nearly two-dozen families said today that MacNeil Environmental, Inc., failed to create a safe school environment and properly train students, staff and law enforcement about what to do in a crisis situation.

"MacNeil sold a security plan that didn't work," said Elliot Olsen, a Minneapolis attorney who represents Steve Cobenais, one of the most severely injured students. "We intend to show that had MacNeil done its job, these deaths and injuries would have been prevented."

They are also representing a handful of former school employees in three separate lawsuits against MacNeil.

The suits say MacNeil was hired by the Red Lake district in 2002 to create a security plan for the district on the remote Indian reservation in northern Minnesota. The suits specifically mention the March 21, 2005 shootings that left 10 dead - including teenage gunman Jeff Weise.

Weise, 16, killed his grandfather and grandfather's girlfriend at their home, then drove to the school and opened fire, killing a security guard, a teacher and five students before taking his own life .

Olsen said that the company was served with the suits last Friday.

Labels: attorney, Elliot Olsen, Red Lake School shooting