The teenager who went on a shooting rampage at his high school was put on the antidepressant Prozac after a suicide scare last summer, a longtime friend says.
Jeff Weise, 16, also had watched a movie about a school shooting with friends earlier this month - skipping ahead to some of the most violent scenes, according to Sky Grant, a friend of Weise's since sixth grade.
Grant, also 16, said Weise brought the 2003 movie "Elephant" to Grant's house on March 4, then skipped ahead to the parts of the movie that show two students planning and carrying out a school shooting.
The teens talked about the movie afterward, but Weise didn't say anything that made them think he planned to emulate the movie, Grant said.
Authorities said they don't know what motivated Weise to kill nine people before they believe he shot himself on Monday at Red Lake High School.
The dead included a teacher and a security guard at the school; Weise's grandfather and his companion were killed earlier at the grandfather's house.
Grant and his mother, Gayle Downwind, said Weise was taken to a psychiatric ward in Thief River Falls last summer after he frightened another friend with suicidal computer messages.
In several online postings attributed to Weise, he wrote of depression and feelings of worthlessness.
Dr. David Fassler, an American Psychiatric Association trustee and child and adolescent psychiatrist in Burlington, Vermont, said Prozac and other antidepressants can be effective along with other treatment, such as therapy.
Wakes had begun for some of the Red Lake victims, with the first funerals scheduled Saturday for Weise's grandfather, Daryl "Dash" Lussier, and his companion, Michelle Sigana.
Governor Tim Pawlenty was scheduled to attend.