Deadly shooting at Northern Illinois University

[Guest Vitamin X]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4293081&page=1

 

As many as 20 people were reportedly shot after a gunman opened fire in a classroom at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., according to local police and university sources. The gunman is dead, said DeKalb Police Lt. Gary Spangler.

 

adsonar_placementId=1280488;adsonar_pid=43749;adsonar_ps=-1;adsonar_zw=165;adsonar_zh=220;adsonar_jv='ads.adsonar.com';Details remain sketchy, but as many as 20 people may have been shot by the gunman, and several people were taken away by ambulance. The gunman, who reportedly opened fire on students in a lecture hall, is believed to have been wearing a ski mask and carrying a pistol and shotgun.

 

DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said it was possible the assailant may have taken his own life, according to the Chicago Tribune.

 

Northern Illinois University police say the gunman is "no longer a threat" and "the immediate danger has passed," according to the Associated Press.

 

Kishwaukee Community Hospital's Web site reported that three to four victims with head wounds have arrived, and up to 15 total victims were arriving.

 

Three more individuals were reportedly being taken to St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, IL, according to that hospital's website.

 

The shooting is believed to have taken place in a geology class at Cole Hall in the campus center around 3 p.m. local time.

 

George Gaynor, a senior geography student, who was in Cole Hall when the shooting happened, told the student newspaper that the shooter was "a skinny white guy with a stocking cap on," according to the AP.

 

"Some girl got hit in the eye, a guy got hit in the leg," Gaynor said outside just minutes after the shooting occurred. "It was like five minutes before class ended too."

 

Student Edward Robinson told WLS-TV in Chicago that the gunman appeared to target students in one part of the lecture hall.

 

"It was almost like he knew who he wanted to shoot," Robinson said. "He knew who and where he wanted to be firing at."

 

At 3:20 p.m., the university posted an alert on its Web site warning students of a possible shooter.

 

"Get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all clear. Avoid the King Commons and all buildings in that vicinity," the Web site posting read.Thirty minutes later the site confirmed the shooting and said "several people" had been taken away by ambulance. In December, the campus was closed for a day following a threat referencing last April's Virginia Tech massacre, in which more than 30 people were killed, according to the Northern Star.

 

Police have established a perimeter around Cole Hall, and 15 to 20 emergency vehicles were in the area, reported the local newspaper, the Daily Chronicle.

[Atticus Chaos]

That time of the week again?

 

This is just so terrible that no one's even surprised when this stuff happens anymore. Even at least a couple of years or so ago it was still pretty rare. Now you have every whiny kid with a gun with nothing to lose deciding to go out in a 'blaze of glory'.

[Brett Favre]

It looks like he had bad aim, cause no one died, but I heard that they're like 5 people in critical condition.

 

Didn't Seton Hall have a shooter like a week or so ago? This shit is getting ridiculous.

[Atticus Chaos]

What was it the writer of fight club said? Pretty soon we'll go into work/collage expecting to be shoot at. 'Sorry, Chip, I have to get off the phone now, someone's shooting at me.'

[Turbo Lion]

Sad.

 

Geology class? What the fuck can Geology possibly do to elicit that kind of reaction? Makes me think it was more targeted, as the quote near the end of the article offers.

[Guest Blue Man Czech]

Well, I guess I'm glad I transferred out of NIU now. My friends in DeKalb are safe, so that's good, but this is just insanity.

[Lord of The Curry]

"Shooting at American school" is the new "Middle Eastern food-market suicide bomb" in that it elicts mainly reactions of "Oh.....again" when you hear about it. Glad to see that nobody at least died this time.

[Guest Blue Man Czech]

They're not even certain it was a student yet, from what I heard during the press conference. Might've just been some guy.

[Atticus Chaos]

It makes me so angry. Killing yourself is one thing. But to just kill random people living their lives? Look at Cho's video, the guy's self pity is sickening, he's completely unable to empathise with his intended victims or their families. These guys are nothing more than sad, little men looking for a moment of power in their otherwise pathetic lives.

 

I've said before, I hope one time they take one these spree shooters alive. Then hopefully they inflict the most painful death imaginable on him.

[Guest Blue Man Czech]

These guys are nothing more than sad, little men looking for a moment of power in their otherwise pathetic lives.

Let's not get carried away. We're dealing with mentally ill people whose conditions are exacerbated by pharmaceuticals. It's more than just having a pathetic life. I have a pathetic life. I don't shoot people.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS!]

George Gaynor, a senior geography student, who was in Cole Hall when the shooting happened, told the student newspaper that the shooter was "a skinny white guy with a stocking cap on," according to the AP.

 

Fucking wiggers, man... they ruin everything...

[Atticus Chaos]

Let's not get carried away. We're dealing with mentally ill people whose conditions are exacerbated by pharmaceuticals. It's more than just having a pathetic life. I have a pathetic life. I don't shoot people

 

Cho mailed an entire manifesto to NBC, in a bid to pursue fame. The guy in Omaha left a note indicating he wanted to 'go out with a bang'. These men knew what they were doing.and what the consqeunces would be (outcry, grief, worldwide attention). The obvious pre meditation in cases like this leads me to beleive these guys ere at least partially aware of what they were doing. That why the perpetrator almost always kills himself: he knows what the consequnces are.

[Timmy8271]

These guys are nothing more than sad, little men looking for a moment of power in their otherwise pathetic lives.

 

And the media rewards them for this by showing their pictures and reading Suicide notes. It's sickening this happens but I'm shocked it doesn't happen more. Hell it probably does but it goes under the radar.

[A Happy Medium]

Well. I got a text message from my cousin who lives with other members of my family in DeKalb. Luckily, everyone is alright.

[Guest Blue Man Czech]

Let's not get carried away. We're dealing with mentally ill people whose conditions are exacerbated by pharmaceuticals. It's more than just having a pathetic life. I have a pathetic life. I don't shoot people

 

Cho mailed an entire manifesto to NBC, in a bid to pursue fame. The guy in Omaha left a note indicationg he wanted to 'go out with a bang'. These men knew what they were doing.and what the consqeunces would be (outcry, grief, worldwide attention). The obvious pre meditation in cases like this leads me to beleive these guys ere at least partially aware of what they were doing. That why the perpetrator almost always kills himself: he knows what the consequnces are.

You're missing the point. People with a clean bill of mental health don't think to seek fame in this manner in the first place. Planning to open fire in a lecture hall doesn't mean you're thinking rationally, and thus fit to be judged against other wrongdoing rational thinkers. I'm certainly not excusing anyone's actions, but there's more to it than "they just want attention." They're not healthy.

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

Horrible news. This just makes me angry. I know all these places referenced in the article. This one definitely hits close to home.

[Guest Blue Man Czech]

It looks like he had bad aim, cause no one died, but I heard that they're like 5 people in critical condition.

Four dead plus self-inflicted. I wonder which anti-depressants he was taking.

[swan]

as a 2000 grad of niu I'm greatly sadden by todays events. my thoughts and pryers are with the huskie nation tonight.

[Perfxion]

Not that the media would not do it. But I hope they DON'T SHOW his face or release the name of the gunman. I really feel these crimes would go down if the media doesn't make the killers into celebrties like the Colimbine kids or as mention in this thread VTech. It would be better to only focus on the victims and the greif of the school. Leave everything else out of the question.

[Atticus Chaos]

His name was Steven Kazmierczak, he was an undergraduate there.

 

As for the whole 'turning these men into celebrities'. That happened with Cho, but only because of how massive the scale of the attack was. But since then? I can't remember the Omaha killers name (skinny, white kid with glasses is my only memory) and that passed quickly enough. Same with this guy. The press might spend a day ot two figuring out his motives and then they'll move on because there are things more interesting than a depressed guy with a grudge. I have a hard time naming all the perpetrators of the other shootings that have happened this and any other year as well. I agree not naming the men might be a step in the right direction, but the idea that the media are turning these guys into Manson like cult figures isn't entirely true either. Of course, there's interest in the men, we can look at possible warning signs and possibly use it identifiy future shooters, but I don't think they're actions are hugely glamourised either.

 

The thing is, since these sprees are no longer special and have become the norm, the killers aren't treated an anything special either.

[RonL21]

I'm watching Fox News..

 

Apparently Video Games are to blame...

 

Since they were training grounds for Columbine and VA Tech Shootings....

 

Ban Counter Strike!!!

[Turbo Lion]

I'm watching Fox News..

 

Apparently Video Games are to blame...

 

Since they were training grounds for Columbine and VA Tech Shootings....

 

Ban Counter Strike!!!

 

 

I hate that. It's the same rationale that says we should feel ashamed for having wealth because third world countries don't. The point isn't to make everyone else poor, the point is to equalize standards of living for everyone. The point isn't that video games make people unhealthy, it's that unhealthy people mis-use resources and activities that are available to them.

 

Healthy people can handle video games.

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

there are things more interesting than a depressed guy with a grudge.

Yeah, such as "a deadly shooting at Northern Illinois University." Why do you insist on oversimplifying this?

[Dobbs 3K]

Seven people dead, including the shooter, apparently.

 

I don't know. It's really getting hard to get too worked up about these things anymore, as horrible as that sounds.

 

Other countries deal with deadly violence on a regular basis. Maybe this is becoming America's version of that scenario.

 

Part of me thinks that concealed carry rights should be expanded, including on college campuses. I know there are a lot of negatives to more people having guns, but you have to think that it would at least somewhat deter things like this from happening so frequently.

[ZGangsta]

Seven people dead, including the shooter, apparently.

 

I don't know. It's really getting hard to get too worked up about these things anymore, as horrible as that sounds.

 

Other countries deal with deadly violence on a regular basis. Maybe this is becoming America's version of that scenario.

 

Part of me thinks that concealed carry rights should be expanded, including on college campuses. I know there are a lot of negatives to more people having guns, but you have to think that it would at least somewhat deter things like this from happening so frequently.

Ugh. So you can't picture a situation where some goth wiener kid is wandering around in a black trenchcoat looking mildly 'suspicious' and then quickly goes for his MP3 player and the fired up redneck with the carry permit gets scared, draws and guns him down and then the 6 other people with guns in the ensuing panic start shooting?

Does anyone think saying "hey college students, we're scared about people getting shot so hey, feel free to carry guns with you" isn't going to create MORE shootings?

[Atticus Chaos]

Yeah, such as "a deadly shooting at Northern Illinois University." Why do you insist on oversimplifying this?

 

The story itself won't even be that big. It'll dominate the headlines for a few days then be quietly forgotten about. As has been said, this happens so often now it's not even a major story anymore unless it is a Virgina tech like massive body count .And the guy that did it? The little information that is leaking out is basically telling us what we could have already guessed: loner, came off his anti depressants, was giving off warning signs...etc. He's not destined to become a cult figure or some sort of icon. You could say 'Steve Kazmierczak' to the average guy on the street and they wouldn't have a clue who your talking about.

[cbacon]

Let's not get carried away. We're dealing with mentally ill people whose conditions are exacerbated by pharmaceuticals. It's more than just having a pathetic life. I have a pathetic life. I don't shoot people

 

Cho mailed an entire manifesto to NBC, in a bid to pursue fame. The guy in Omaha left a note indicationg he wanted to 'go out with a bang'. These men knew what they were doing.and what the consqeunces would be (outcry, grief, worldwide attention). The obvious pre meditation in cases like this leads me to beleive these guys ere at least partially aware of what they were doing. That why the perpetrator almost always kills himself: he knows what the consequnces are.

You're missing the point. People with a clean bill of mental health don't think to seek fame in this manner in the first place. Planning to open fire in a lecture hall doesn't mean you're thinking rationally, and thus fit to be judged against other wrongdoing rational thinkers. I'm certainly not excusing anyone's actions, but there's more to it than "they just want attention." They're not healthy.

 

^quotin' dis

 

Part of me thinks that concealed carry rights should be expanded, including on college campuses. I know there are a lot of negatives to more people having guns, but you have to think that it would at least somewhat deter things like this from happening so frequently.

 

How would this act as a deterrent? This guy would have still gone his rampage regardless.

[swan]

wow, just comfirmed one of the dead was my -ex wife's cousin. saw her pic on woprl news tonight, made a call to confirm, and sure as shit, it was her. this iks messed up

[Guest Michael Myers Resplendent]

How would this act as a deterrent? This guy would have still gone his rampage regardless.

Disaster averted thanks to G.I. Bros!

 

I'm sorry to hear that you're connected to a victim, swan.

[MarvinisaLunatic]

Seven people dead, including the shooter, apparently.

 

I don't know. It's really getting hard to get too worked up about these things anymore, as horrible as that sounds.

 

Other countries deal with deadly violence on a regular basis. Maybe this is becoming America's version of that scenario.

 

Part of me thinks that concealed carry rights should be expanded, including on college campuses. I know there are a lot of negatives to more people having guns, but you have to think that it would at least somewhat deter things like this from happening so frequently.

The guy knew he would have free reign to shoot people for a length of time before an armed response (read cops) were to arrive. He even had time to reload his guns in broad sight of people and continued shooting. If more people were allowed to carry concealed weapons to protect themselves and others the bastard would have been shot before he could have even reloaded. Is it any coincidence that shootings are taking place at schools that have strict policies against people on campus carrying guns? Its like a huge advertisement to wackjobs that you can come here and shoot people for a good while without any threat of being shot and it probably more thrilling to them to be able to shoot defenseless people.