Former Student Kills Five at Northern Illinois, then Commits Suicide
A former grad student shot and killed five people in a Northern Illinois University classroom before turning the gun on himself, the NIU's Northern Star and school's website reports. Sixteen others were wounded; four people, including the shooter, died at the scene, and two more died at the hospital.
The shooter has been identified as Steve Kazmierczak and was described as "a skinny white guy with stocking cap on" and dressed in all black. Armed with three handguns and a shotgun, Kazmierczak, 27, sneaked into the large lecture hall of an ocean science class shortly after 3 p.m. Central Time and, from the stage, opened a "very brief, rapid fire assault" into the student audience, university President John Peters said at a press conference Thursday. Police found 48 shell casings and six shotgun cells in the classroom.
"He didn't say anything. He just started shooting," one witness told the Northern Star. Students ran and crawled out of the auditorium, and once out, frantically dashed from the scene. "I saw a girl running with no shoes on and she was freaking out," described one passerby. Another student added: "I saw everyone sprinting and screaming and I saw two bloody people sprinting and screaming to 'Get away; there was a shooting in Cole Hall.' "
The campus was soon put on lockdown at 3:07 p.m., and an all-campus alert was posted at 3:20 p.m., Peters said.
Via the school's website, students and teachers were told to "get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all-clear."
By 4:10 p.m., the scene at the 25,000-student campus had been secured.
Late Thursday, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich declared a state of emergency at NIU and promised money from the state's disaster relief fund to reimburse the city and the university for the expenses incurred by the shootings.
Numerous vigils were scheduled for Thursday evening and Friday afternoon
All classes, activities, and sports events scheduled for yesterday afternoon through at least Sunday were canceled, and counselors were made available at the scene, the college reports.
Tags: Northern Illinois University | school shootings
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Reader Comments
concerning the student that kills, there should be commities that will in be responcible for that, a student can't just come and started shooting like that. there must have been something wrong somewhere. because one the student is an ex-student of the school,then something in wrong somewher.am writen from the piont of view.ples send me mail to if is done.thanks
Ban It All
Ban guns? Why not ban gasoline, propane, and all explosives too? Wouldn't it be wonderful to deny suicidal mass murderers all means of killing innocent people in their signature acts, just by declaring a ban? The act of mass murder itself is banned. It shouldn't happen, but it does. Bans accomplish nothing.
Despite "feels good" psychic rewards, bans will not deter these perpetrators a whit, because they don't address the root cause...mainly depressed, self-centered people who want to end their miserable lives by lashing out at a society that doesn't accomodate their special needs.
Better, early identification of such maladjusted people and intervention to protect society. Child abusers are regularly reported to the police and DCFS by doctors, to alert officials to their danger to defenseless children. Preventive detention and radio collars that set off alarms in gun free zones would more directly reduce the risk to society from potentially violent misfits.
Steve Cazmierczak was discharged early from the military and had been sent to a residential mental facility by his family because he was a "cutter". He stopped taking his meds two weeks before he executed his murderous finale.
Medical privacy considerations prevented his evidently severe condition from being reported to authorities. Meanwhile, not being aware of his condition, his girlfriend considered him a warm-hearted person and his professors loved his academic performance. At least five or six medical experts could have reported his fatal affliiction, but were prevented from doing so by established privacy policy. Va. Tech changed their medical privacy rules. Anyone else ready?
ET-
I completely disagree with you. If parents want religion taught in school then send your child to a private school. Take your own child to church. Why would you impose your religious beliefs upon everybody. Why would you want someone to find God because they HAVE to instead of because they want to. Why cant we expect great moral laws from a democrat are you saying that we can with republicans because they DONT know the meaning of seperation of church and state? I think using your religious background to get ahead is the exact same and trying to pull the race card.
Stricter gun control is my belief. Finding out what makes someone want to take someone elses life or their own wont work. Obviously these people are sick and arent willing to reach out to someone or they would have received the help they needed in the first place.
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