Teen Held in Red Lake Rampage

(CBS/AP

The chairman of the Red Lake band of Chippewa confirmed Tuesday that his son was arrested in connection with last week's deadly school shootings but maintained that the teen is innocent

"My heart is heavy as a result of the tragic events that unfolded here at our nation," Floyd Jourdain Jr. said in a statement. "But it is with optimism that I state my son Louis's innocence. He is a good boy with a good heart, who never harmed anyone in his entire life." "I know my son and he is incapable of committing such an act," Jourdain said.

The younger Jourdain, 16, was arrested by federal authorities on Sunday. Jeff Weise, 16, killed nine people in an attack on the reservation on March 21 before taking his own life. Five of the dead were students, killed at the high school. It was the worst U.S. school shooting since the attacks by a pair of students at Columbine High in Colorado. Federal authorities had announced an unidentified juvenile's arrest on Monday, and a law enforcement source speaking on condition of anonymity had identified the boy to The Associated Press as Louis Jourdain.

The source said the arrest was part of an investigation into a potentially wider plot. According to sources, federal investigators have seized computer records that allegedly show Louis Jourdain had what authorities believe is advance knowledge of the plot, reports Esme Murphy of CBS Station WCCO-TV.

Immediately after the shootings, news quickly circulated that Weiss had talked of doing violent things at school and had even posted an animation on the Internet of someone blowing up a police car, shooting people and then committing suicide. Many students said no one took it seriously. But now authorities believe some students knew a lot more.

A government official briefed on the investigation told AP that prosecutors were contemplating charging Jourdain as an adult with conspiracy to commit murder. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

Authorities began to suspect that Weise may not have plotted the attack by himself after examining his computer and e-mails he exchanged with Jourdain, this official said. In addition to Louis Jourdain, another red lake student and close friend of Weiss was questioned extensively over the weekend, as were two to three other young people authorities also consider may have been involved, Murphy reports.

The law enforcement official. said FBI behavioral analysts brought into the case also doubted that Wiese acted alone, based on personality traits they identified. More arrests are possible, said this official and the law enforcement official. In announcing the arrest Monday, U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger had declined to provide any details on Louis Jourdain's role in the case