NIU gunman stopped taking medication

Slideshow: Northern Illinois University Shooting

Chicargo Tribune Reports on the Norther Illinois University Shooting

The witnesses

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-niu_eyewitness_webfeb15,0,116554.story

'I was prepared for that to be my last moment'

Attacker fired wordlessly into a mass of students

By Josh Noel, James Kimberly and Robert Mitchum |Tribune staff reporter

12:26 AM CST, February 15, 2008

About 15 minutes were left in Geology 104: Introduction to Ocean Science, and junior Dan Sweeney was checking the time when the door beneath the lecture hall's clock flew open.

In strode a thin young man dressed in black, a dark knit cap atop his head, a shotgun in his hands.

Time stopped. There was no fear, no panic in the half-full room—only an icy moment of bewilderment.

He ran into neighboring Neptune Hall, where other students noticed his wounds and helped him.

The ambulance came in a short time and they were fast about it," he said. "I have three pellets in my head, but they said I'd be OK."

John Giovanni, 20, of Des Plaines left his notebook and iPod behind as he bolted for the doors in a crouch, thinking to himself that a moving target would be harder to hit.
"I was pushing through people," he said. "You need to get out. You never know how good of a marksman he is. . . . My goal was getting out there and running as far as I could to be safe."

Outside the building, the students scattered. Some slipped on the ice. Blood was everywhere.

Jillian Martinez, a freshman from Carpentersville, said she saw the gunman enter the auditorium from a side door near the teacher's lectern at the front of the room.

"All I saw was the flash of shooting," she continued. "He pulled out his gun. He just started shooting at all the kids. He just started shooting at people, and I ran out of there as fast as I could. I ran all the way to the student center; when I got there I could still hear shooting [from the classroom]."

As the victims fled across campus, the panic of the lecture hall began to spread.

"Everything was crazy," said sophomore Ryan Toms, 20, of Rockford, who was trying to drive out of a parking lot near Cole Hall. "There were people running down the roads trying to get away, and the roads were just jampacked with cars trying to get out, and so many police cars and ambulances and firetrucks trying to get in and there's people in the way."

Students holed up in their dorm rooms and apartments, some staying well after the university said the crisis was over. Parents streamed into the campus to pick up their children, and some weren't so sure they would return.

Smith, the Bolingbrook senior, reached a nearby campus building and called her parents and boyfriend. She was then told to go to an auditorium for questioning with the rest of the students from the classroom where the shooting occurred.

There, she ran into the girl she had locked eyes with under the seats of the classroom.

"We ran to each other and hugged; I told her I kept thinking of her and wondering if you were OK," Smith said. "She said she kept thinking of me and that she remembered my face and remembered me grabbing on to her."

Smith said that the class' teacher, Peterson, was also in the auditorium, despite being apparently wounded in the arm by the shooter.

"We were all relieved to see he was OK," Smith said. "I lost it and started crying then, I could see the horror and shock in his face."

Desiree Smith said she had been feeling uneasy about campus security ever since last year's Virginia Tech massacre, saying many classroom doors didn't lock. Now, after the worst has happened, she said it would be hard to return to any sense of normalcy.

"I think it's going to be really hard for me and a lot of people. It's going to be hard to be back in that room, now that this has happened. . . . I don't understand why someone has to go into a room of people they've never met and feel like they need to harm them."

jbnoel@tribune.com

jkimberly@tribune.com

rmitchum@tribune.com

Related links

• Students cell phone camera Video

• 'I saw him shoot my teacher' Video

• Shooting at Northern Illinois University Photos

• NIU shooting victims Photos

• Northern Illinois University gunman Steven Kazmierczak Photos

• Graphic: Inside Cole Hall, more

• How the shooting happened Graphic

• Police piecing together gunman's activities, still lack motive

• NIU gunman identified

• Kazmierczak family posts statement

• NIU vigil for victims draws thousands

• Cardinal, clergy offer thoughts on NIU shootings

• NIU noted gunman's scholarship

• Web site keeps many connected

• Elmhurst student identified as NIU shooting victim

• NIU students hold vigils on shaken campus

• Professor could only hear chaos

• Barack Obama comments on shootings

• Up-to-the-minute messaging system put to the test

• The NIU rampage: What's going on in America?

• NIU shooting timeline

• NIU on alert after Virginia Tech shooting reference found on wall (Dec. 10, 2007)

• Complete coverage of shootings at NIU

• Link: NIU campus alert

• Link: Kishwaukee Community Hospital site

• Your comments: 'It is a national tragedy'

• Victims remembered

NIU at a glance

DeKalb: 65 miles west of downtown Chicago.

Locations: Main campus in DeKalb. Outreach centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford and Oregon.

Degrees: Seven degree-granting colleges, 55 undergraduate majors, 75 graduate programs

Students: 91 percent from Illinois, 862 international students from 88 nations

Source: NIU

NIU shooting | The victims | Gunman In the news | Campaign '08 | Sports | Celebs

• Photos: Steven P. Kazmierczak | 2004 video • Gunman's family releases a statement • Trail leaves no motive | Police track activities • Victims: Beloved, dedicated | Vigil draws 1,000s • Witnesses: 'Nothing seemed out of place' • Wis. site sold to both NIU, Va. Tech shooters • Alerts: System put to test • Web: Many turn to Facebook • Comments: Victims remembered • Video: 'I saw him shoot my teacher' | Cell video • Photos | Your images | Location | Timeline

http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Five diverse paths converged in lecture hall

 

 
The victims of the shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. More photos >>

A former professor recalls Steven P. Kazmierczak: "I know that when these horrible things happen, everyone searches for roots to explain it. Here, I'm afraid I don't have any."
Read the story >>

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LIVE - Illinois governor holds news conference on NIU shooting

ABC News

 

Profile of alleged NIU shooter AP» 

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By CARYN ROUSSEAU and DEANNA BELLANDI, Associated Press Writers 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

DEKALB, Ill. - The man who gunned down five people at Northern Illinois University in a suicidal rampage became erratic after halting his medication and carried a shotgun to campus inside a guitar case, police said Friday.

The man, 27-year-old former student Stephen Kazmierczak, was also wielding three handguns during Thursday's ambush inside a lecture hall.

Two of the weapons — the pump-action Remington shotgun and a Glock 9mm handgun — were purchased legally less than a week ago, on Feb. 9, authorities said. They were purchased in Champaign, where Kazmierczak was enrolled at the University of Illinois.

A spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the other two guns were also legally purchased and traced to the Champaign gun shop, but the ATF was still determining when Kazmierczak picked them up.

Kazmierczak had a valid Firearm Owner's Identification Card, which is required for all Illinois residents who buy or possess firearms, authorities said.

The gunman's father, Robert Kazmierczak, briefly came out of his single-story house in Lakeland, Fla., to talk to reporters.

"Please leave me alone. I have no statement to make and no comment. OK? I'd appreciate that. This is a very hard time. I'm a diabetic and I don't want to go into a relapse," he said before breaking down crying.

He then went back inside his house, which has a sign on the front door that says "Illini fans live here."

President Bush talked by telephone with NIU President John Peters and said people will be praying for the families of the victims and for the Northern Illinois University community.

Campus Police Chief Donald Grady said investigators recovered 48 shell casings and six shotgun shells following the attack in Cole Hall. The gunman paused to reload his shotgun after opening fire on a crowd of terrified students in a geology class, sending them running and crawling toward the exits. He shot himself to death on the stage of the hall. Sixteen people were injured.

Kazmierczak, whose first name was earlier listed as Steven, was taking some kind of medication, Grady said.

"He had stopped taking medication and become somewhat erratic in the last couple of weeks," Grady said, declining to name the drug or provide other details.

Correcting information his office released earlier Friday, DeKalb County Coroner Dennis J. Miller said five students, not six, were killed in the rampage, in addition to the gunman. Miller said the higher victim total was the result of confusion over the fate of a patient taken to another county for treatment.

"There was a miscommunication," Miller said.

The motive of the killer, who graduated from NIU in 2006 but was a student there as recently as last year, was still not known. Grady said Kazmierczak was an "outstanding" student while at NIU and authorities were still trying to determine why he would kill. There was no known suicide note.

"We were dealing with a disturbed individual who intended to do harm on this campus," Peters said.

Witnesses said the gunman, dressed in black and wearing a stocking cap, emerged from behind a screen on the stage of 200-seat Cole Hall and opened fire just as the class was about to end around 3 p.m. Officials said 162 students were registered for the class but it was unknown how many were there Thursday.

John Giovanni, 20, of Des Plaines said the gunman calmly fired at the greatest concentration of students.

"He was shooting from the hip. He was just shooting," said Giovanni, who turned and ran so fast that he lost a shoe. "I was running but I was hurtling over people in the fetal position."

Peters said four people died at the scene, including three students and the gunman. The other died at a hospital. The teacher, a graduate student, was wounded but was expected to recover.

Miller released the identities of four victims: Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; and Julianna Gehant, 32, of Meridan.

Another victim, Gayle Dubowski, a 20-year-old sophomore from Carol Stream, died at a Rockford hospital, Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said.

The killer had been a graduate student in sociology at Northern Illinois as recently as spring 2007, Peters said. He also said the man had no record of police contact or an arrest record while attending Northern Illinois, a campus with 25,000 students about 65 miles west of Chicago.

The gunman was a student at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Chancellor Richard Herman said. The university is about 140 miles south of Chicago.

Lauren Carr said she was sitting in the third row when she saw the shooter walk through a door on the right-hand side of the stage, pointing a gun straight ahead.

"I personally Army-crawled halfway up the aisle," said Carr, a 20-year-old sophomore. "I said I could get up and run or I could die here."

She said a student in front of her was bleeding, "but he just kept running."

"I heard this girl scream, 'Run, he's reloading the gun!'"

More than a hundred students cried and hugged as they gathered outside the Pi Kappa Alpha house early Friday to remember Parmenter. Flowers, candles and small notes were left in the snow near Cole Hall. Flags were flying at half-staff. At a house across the street, a hand-drawn banner made out of a sheet said: 'NIU We Pray 4 U'

The campus was closed on Friday. Students were urged to call their parents and were offered counseling at any residence hall, according to the school Web site.

The school was closed for one day during final exam week in December after campus police found threats, including racial slurs and references to shootings earlier in the year at Virginia Tech, scrawled on a bathroom wall in a dormitory. Police determined after an investigation that there was no imminent threat and the campus was reopened. Peters said he knew of no connection between that incident and Thursday's attack.

___

Associated Press writers Carla K. Johnson, Michael Tarm, David Mercer, Martha Irvine, Nguyen Huy Vu, Sarah Rafi, Mike Robinson, Anthony McCartney in Lakeland, Fla., photographer Charles Rex Arbogast and the AP News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS RESTORES full name for ATF in 4th graf and number of injured in 10th graf; corrects fraternity in 31st graf to Pi Kappa Alpha, sted Phi; AP Video. Multimedia: An interactive that includes a timeline, campus map, photos from the scene and information about the victims and shooter is available in the _national/niu_shooting folder. It will be updated as more information becomes available. A timeline of deadly shootings on U.S. college campuses is in the _national/campus_shootings folder.)

Full Coverage: Northern Illinois University Shooting

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Northern Illinois University Shooting

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Feb 15, 2008

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P.1 Police secure the crime scene after a shooting spree at Cole Hall on the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois. The gunman who shot dead five people at the university was identified Friday as an "outstanding" graduate student with no history of trouble but signs of erratic behavior in the last two weeks. (AFP/Amanda Rivkin

P.2 This undated image obtained from a MySpace webpage shows Steven Kazmierczak, who was identified by Florida authorities and a university official familiar with the investigation as the gunman who killed five people at Northern Illinois University. (AP Photo)


P.3  Student Rebeca Mangares (2nd R), 20, and her father David pay their respects in memory of the shooting victims at the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Fear and a feeling of emptiness prowled the deserted sidewalks at Northern Illinois University on Friday, the usually busy campus cold and silenced after a gunman killed five students before shooting himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)


P.4 From left, Linze Griebenow and Raquel Vega mourn outside the Holmes Student Center at Northern Illinois University on Friday, Feb. 15, 2008. Five crosses were placed outside the student center for the five shooting victims that died Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rockford Register Star, Eddy Montville)



P.5. Marquette University fans hold a sign in support of the victims of the Northern Illinois University shooting incident before their game against the Pittsburgh Panthers basketball game Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)



P.6  Students pay their respects in memory of the shooting victims at the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Fear and a feeling of emptiness prowled the deserted sidewalks at Northern Illinois University on Friday, the usually busy campus cold and silenced after a gunman killed five students before shooting himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)

P.7 A members of the Northern Illinois University community leave a prayer service at the Newman Catholic Student Center on Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, in DeKalb, Ill., a day after a shooting rampage by former student Steven Kazmierczak. (AP Photo/The Daily Chronicle, Eric Sumberg, Daily Chronicle)

P.8 Taija Cockrell, left, a Northern Illinois University alumnus, comforts Ashele Knight, an NIU sophomore on the campus in DeKalb, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, a day after a lone gunman killed five people on the campus. (AP Photo/Rockford Register Star, Alan Leon)

P.9 From left, Linze Griebenow and Raquel Vega mourn outside the Holmes Student Center at Northern Illinois University on Friday, Feb. 15, 2008. Five crosses were placed outside the student center for the five shooting victims that died Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rockford Register Star,Eddy Montville)

P.10. This combination of five photographs shows the victims of the Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008 shooting at Northern Illinois University. Top row, from left: Catalina Garcia and Gayle Dubowski. Bottom row, from left: Ryanne Mace, Julianna Gehant and Daniel Parmenter. (AP Photos)

P.11 Students Michelle Nendza and Bailey Ouellette sign a wall in memory of the shooting victims at the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Steven Kazmierczak, 27, fired into a lecture hall packed with students at the university on February 14, killing six people and wounding 18 before killing himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)

P.12. Students pay respect to the memory of the shooting victims at the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Steven Kazmierczak, 27, fired into a lecture hall packed with students at the university on February 14, killing six people and wounding 18 before killing himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)

P.13. Crosses bearing the names of shooting victims have been placed on a hill overlooking the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Steven Kazmierczak, 27, fired into a lecture hall packed with students at the university on February 14, killing six people and wounding 18 before killing himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)



P. 14 

Taija Cockrell, left, an Northern Illinois University alumnus, Jennifer Jameau, an NIU junior, center and Nikiya Pruitt pray near the Holmes Student Center on the campus in DeKalb, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, a day after a lone gunman killed five people on the campus.(AP Photo/Rockford Register Star, Alan Leon)

P.15. Crosses bearing the names of shooting victims have been placed on a hill overlooking the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Steven Kazmierczak, 27, fired into a lecture hall packed with students at the university on February 14, killing six people and wounding 18 before killing himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)

P.16  he sun sets over six crosses bearing the names of the five victims and the gunman in Thursday's shooting, on a hill on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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The campus has now been closed and students evacuated
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6560685.stm

The shooter shot the door twice at chest level,
which resulted in two holes in the door,
one of which hit the podium in the front of the classroom

Nikolas Macko, student

Shooter tried the door

E-mail witness accounts

US university shooting kills 33

A US shooting rampage at the Virginia Tech university has left 33 people, including a suspected gunman, dead.

There were two incidents two hours apart, at a student dorm where two were killed and at an engineering building where 30 and the gunman died.

Officers said they were working to link the attacks and had a preliminary ID of the gunman but would not release it.

After the deadliest shooting rampage in US history, President George W Bush said the US was "shocked and saddened".

"Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community," he said.

The state university in the town of Blacksburg is home to 26,000 students.

Location of Virginia Tech campus shootings

Virginia Tech police chief Wendell Flinchum said that emergency services had received a call at 0715 (1215 GMT) alerting them to a shooting at the dormitory - West Ambler Johnston Hall.

He said that two hours later there was a second report of shooting, this time at the engineering building, Norris Hall.

Asked why the campus was not closed after the first shooting, Mr Flinchum said that, at that stage, it was thought to be an isolated incident.

Police believed the first shooting may have been a "domestic incident" and that the gunman had left the campus.

'Many, many shots'

Eyewitnesses said some students jumped from classroom windows to escape the gunfire, which triggered panic on campus.

Some of those locked down inside the university buildings were using the internet to try to glean information about what was happening and many e-mailed the BBC News website.

Nikolas Macko was in a mathematics class in Norris Hall when he heard a series of loud bangs in the hallway which prompted a female student sitting near the door to move to close it.

"She peeked out into the hallway, and saw the shooter, so she immediately closed the door. Three other students moved a table that was in front of the room - it seats approximately 40 students at capacity - and barricaded it against the door.

"A few seconds later, the shooter tried to open the door, but my classmates kept it well shut, as they held the table against it from floor level.

"The shooter shot the door twice at chest level, which resulted in two holes in the door, one of which hit the podium in the front of the class room and the other continued out the window. At this point he reloaded, shot the door again - this shot did not penetrate - and moved on to the other classrooms," Mr Macko said.

Virginia Tech student Erin Sheehan said she survived an attack on her German class and described the gunman.

She said: "He was, I would say, about a little bit under six feet tall, young looking, Asian, dressed sort of strangely, almost like a boy scout, very short-sleeved light, tan shirt and some sort of ammo vest with black over it."

Motive unclear

Mr Flinchum said it was unclear if the dead gunman was a student.

He could not confirm that the man was involved in the first attack.

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said: "Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions."

He said the university was in the process of informing the next of kin of those killed and that counsellors were in place at the campus for student families.

The university urged students to call parents to let them know they were safe.

The deadliest mass US shooting prior to the Virginia attack was in Texas in 1991 when George Hennard killed 23 people and himself in a cafeteria.

The US also has a history of deadly school shootings.

In 1966, the day after killing his wife and mother, gunman Charles Whitman opened fire from a tower on the campus of the University of Texas killing 14 people and injuring 31 others.

In 1999 two teenagers at Columbine High School in Colorado killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

1) 0715: Two killed at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a dormitory building. Police believe incident isolated and "domestic" in nature 2) 0945 (approx): 30 killed in shooting at engineering building, Norris Hall. Gunman kills himself

Student's account

As we heard the police arrive outside, the shooting continued, and the officers eventually came through the building

More eyewitness accounts

Student describes shooting spree
Nikolas Macko was in class at Virginia Tech when a gunman entered the building and started shooting. He described the experience to the BBC News website.

I was in class in Norris Hall at around 0940 when we heard a series of loud bangs coming from the hallway.

The sound did not register immediately, even though it was startlingly loud.

When it started again seconds later, the girl sitting by the door decided to close the door.

She peeked out into the hallway, and saw the shooter, so she immediately closed the door shut.

Three other students moved a table that was in front of the room and barricaded it against the door.

A few seconds later, the shooter tried to open the door, but my classmates kept it well shut, as they held the table against it.

The shooter shot the door twice at chest level, which resulted in two holes in the door, one of which hit the podium in the front of the classroom and the other continued out the window.

'Seriously hurt'

At this point he reloaded, shot the door again - this shot did not penetrate - and moved on to the other classrooms.
Thankfully, nobody in our room was hurt. At this point, I was already on the phone with the emergency dispatcher, indicating to them that there was a shooting on the second floor of Norris Hall.

The shooting continued for several minutes, until the police arrived, and the shooter must have shot at least 80-100 rounds.

As we heard the police arrive outside the building, the shooting continued, and the officers eventually came through the building.

Even though it seemed to take quite a long time, the timer on my phone seemed to indicate that the whole sequence of events was over in only 25 minutes.

At that point, we were escorted from the building by the police.

Clearly someone had been seriously hurt in the hallway not more than a few paces from our classroom.

I did not look in the adjoining classrooms, but those who did simply told me after that "it was sad".

WORST US SCHOOLS SHOOTINGS

1 August 1966 - Sniper Charles Whitman kills 14 people and injures dozens at University of Texas

20 April 1999 - Two teenagers at Columbine High School, Colorado, kill 13 before killing themselves

21 March 2005 - A teenager on an Indian reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota, kills nine

In pictures: Virginia shootings

In quotes: Shooting reaction

Timeline: US school shootings

VIDEO AND AUDIO NEWS The university's president comments on the shooting VIRGINIA SHOOTINGS Campus mourns Stunned residents of Virginia Tech grieve in earnest Campus killer's family 'so sorry' Virginia mourns massacre victims Inquiry to probe Virginia killing Virginia shootings: The victims In pictures: Chilling video In quotes: Gunman's message Koreans shocked and saddened EYEWITNESS 'Police came out of nowhere' Eyewitness accounts Video worries locals Virginia Tech stunned BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS Inside Cho's head How Virginia Tech gunman fits the pattern of campus killers Coping with death on the web Loner filled with anger and spite Massacre timeline Profile: Virginia Tech Q&A: US campus killings WATCH LISTEN Killer's TV video Sequence of events Eyewitness account Profile of the killer Mobile phone footage HAVE YOUR SAY Virginia shootings: Your reaction SERVICES News alerts Get the latest breaking news delivered to your desktop or mobile device RELATED INTERNET LINKS Virginia Tech The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites TOP AMERICAS STORIES Obama extends lead over Clinton US urges reform as Castro quits Top US court rejects spying case | News feeds MOST POPULAR STORIES NOW MOST E-MAILED MOST READ Restaurant sorry over F word bill Heathrow baggage woes continue 'Anger control' key to recovery Chelsea boss sent death threats Brain control headset for gamers Most popular now, in detail MOST E-MAILED MOST READ Chelsea boss sent death threats Madonna shot fools Monroe expert How do you replace a film star? Restaurant sorry over F word bill Weapon found in Rhys murder probe Most popular now, in detail

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NIU gunman stopped taking medication

Slideshow: Northern Illinois University Shooting

Chicargo Tribune Reports on the Norther Illinois University Shooting

The witnesses

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-niu_eyewitness_webfeb15,0,116554.story

'I was prepared for that to be my last moment'

Attacker fired wordlessly into a mass of students

By Josh Noel, James Kimberly and Robert Mitchum |Tribune staff reporter

12:26 AM CST, February 15, 2008

About 15 minutes were left in Geology 104: Introduction to Ocean Science, and junior Dan Sweeney was checking the time when the door beneath the lecture hall's clock flew open.

In strode a thin young man dressed in black, a dark knit cap atop his head, a shotgun in his hands.

Time stopped. There was no fear, no panic in the half-full room—only an icy moment of bewilderment.

He ran into neighboring Neptune Hall, where other students noticed his wounds and helped him.

The ambulance came in a short time and they were fast about it," he said. "I have three pellets in my head, but they said I'd be OK."

John Giovanni, 20, of Des Plaines left his notebook and iPod behind as he bolted for the doors in a crouch, thinking to himself that a moving target would be harder to hit.
"I was pushing through people," he said. "You need to get out. You never know how good of a marksman he is. . . . My goal was getting out there and running as far as I could to be safe."

Outside the building, the students scattered. Some slipped on the ice. Blood was everywhere.

Jillian Martinez, a freshman from Carpentersville, said she saw the gunman enter the auditorium from a side door near the teacher's lectern at the front of the room.

"All I saw was the flash of shooting," she continued. "He pulled out his gun. He just started shooting at all the kids. He just started shooting at people, and I ran out of there as fast as I could. I ran all the way to the student center; when I got there I could still hear shooting [from the classroom]."

As the victims fled across campus, the panic of the lecture hall began to spread.

"Everything was crazy," said sophomore Ryan Toms, 20, of Rockford, who was trying to drive out of a parking lot near Cole Hall. "There were people running down the roads trying to get away, and the roads were just jampacked with cars trying to get out, and so many police cars and ambulances and firetrucks trying to get in and there's people in the way."

Students holed up in their dorm rooms and apartments, some staying well after the university said the crisis was over. Parents streamed into the campus to pick up their children, and some weren't so sure they would return.

Smith, the Bolingbrook senior, reached a nearby campus building and called her parents and boyfriend. She was then told to go to an auditorium for questioning with the rest of the students from the classroom where the shooting occurred.

There, she ran into the girl she had locked eyes with under the seats of the classroom.

"We ran to each other and hugged; I told her I kept thinking of her and wondering if you were OK," Smith said. "She said she kept thinking of me and that she remembered my face and remembered me grabbing on to her."

Smith said that the class' teacher, Peterson, was also in the auditorium, despite being apparently wounded in the arm by the shooter.

"We were all relieved to see he was OK," Smith said. "I lost it and started crying then, I could see the horror and shock in his face."

Desiree Smith said she had been feeling uneasy about campus security ever since last year's Virginia Tech massacre, saying many classroom doors didn't lock. Now, after the worst has happened, she said it would be hard to return to any sense of normalcy.

"I think it's going to be really hard for me and a lot of people. It's going to be hard to be back in that room, now that this has happened. . . . I don't understand why someone has to go into a room of people they've never met and feel like they need to harm them."

jbnoel@tribune.com

jkimberly@tribune.com

rmitchum@tribune.com

Related links

• Students cell phone camera Video

• 'I saw him shoot my teacher' Video

• Shooting at Northern Illinois University Photos

• NIU shooting victims Photos

• Northern Illinois University gunman Steven Kazmierczak Photos

• Graphic: Inside Cole Hall, more

• How the shooting happened Graphic

• Police piecing together gunman's activities, still lack motive

• NIU gunman identified

• Kazmierczak family posts statement

• NIU vigil for victims draws thousands

• Cardinal, clergy offer thoughts on NIU shootings

• NIU noted gunman's scholarship

• Web site keeps many connected

• Elmhurst student identified as NIU shooting victim

• NIU students hold vigils on shaken campus

• Professor could only hear chaos

• Barack Obama comments on shootings

• Up-to-the-minute messaging system put to the test

• The NIU rampage: What's going on in America?

• NIU shooting timeline

• NIU on alert after Virginia Tech shooting reference found on wall (Dec. 10, 2007)

• Complete coverage of shootings at NIU

• Link: NIU campus alert

• Link: Kishwaukee Community Hospital site

• Your comments: 'It is a national tragedy'

• Victims remembered

NIU at a glance

DeKalb: 65 miles west of downtown Chicago.

Locations: Main campus in DeKalb. Outreach centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford and Oregon.

Degrees: Seven degree-granting colleges, 55 undergraduate majors, 75 graduate programs

Students: 91 percent from Illinois, 862 international students from 88 nations

Source: NIU

NIU shooting | The victims | Gunman In the news | Campaign '08 | Sports | Celebs

• Photos: Steven P. Kazmierczak | 2004 video • Gunman's family releases a statement • Trail leaves no motive | Police track activities • Victims: Beloved, dedicated | Vigil draws 1,000s • Witnesses: 'Nothing seemed out of place' • Wis. site sold to both NIU, Va. Tech shooters • Alerts: System put to test • Web: Many turn to Facebook • Comments: Victims remembered • Video: 'I saw him shoot my teacher' | Cell video • Photos | Your images | Location | Timeline

http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Five diverse paths converged in lecture hall

 

The victims of the shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. More photos >>

A former professor recalls Steven P. Kazmierczak: "I know that when these horrible things happen, everyone searches for roots to explain it. Here, I'm afraid I don't have any."
Read the story >>

P.1 Police secure the crime scene after a shooting spree at Cole Hall on the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois. The gunman who shot dead five people at the university was identified Friday as an "outstanding" graduate student with no history of trouble but signs of erratic behavior in the last two weeks. (AFP/Amanda Rivkin

P.2 This undated image obtained from a MySpace webpage shows Steven Kazmierczak, who was identified by Florida authorities and a university official familiar with the investigation as the gunman who killed five people at Northern Illinois University. (AP Photo)


P.3  Student Rebeca Mangares (2nd R), 20, and her father David pay their respects in memory of the shooting victims at the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Fear and a feeling of emptiness prowled the deserted sidewalks at Northern Illinois University on Friday, the usually busy campus cold and silenced after a gunman killed five students before shooting himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)


P.4 From left, Linze Griebenow and Raquel Vega mourn outside the Holmes Student Center at Northern Illinois University on Friday, Feb. 15, 2008. Five crosses were placed outside the student center for the five shooting victims that died Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rockford Register Star, Eddy Montville)



P.5. Marquette University fans hold a sign in support of the victims of the Northern Illinois University shooting incident before their game against the Pittsburgh Panthers basketball game Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)



P.6  Students pay their respects in memory of the shooting victims at the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Fear and a feeling of emptiness prowled the deserted sidewalks at Northern Illinois University on Friday, the usually busy campus cold and silenced after a gunman killed five students before shooting himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)

 

 P.7 A members of the Northern Illinois University community leave a prayer service at the Newman Catholic Student Center on Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, in DeKalb, Ill., a day after a shooting rampage by former student Steven Kazmierczak. (AP Photo/The Daily Chronicle, Eric Sumberg, Daily Chronicle)

P.8 Taija Cockrell, left, a Northern Illinois University alumnus, comforts Ashele Knight, an NIU sophomore on the campus in DeKalb, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, a day after a lone gunman killed five people on the campus. (AP Photo/Rockford Register Star, Alan Leon)

P.9 From left, Linze Griebenow and Raquel Vega mourn outside the Holmes Student Center at Northern Illinois University on Friday, Feb. 15, 2008. Five crosses were placed outside the student center for the five shooting victims that died Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rockford Register Star,Eddy Montville)

P.10. This combination of five photographs shows the victims of the Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008 shooting at Northern Illinois University. Top row, from left: Catalina Garcia and Gayle Dubowski. Bottom row, from left: Ryanne Mace, Julianna Gehant and Daniel Parmenter. (AP Photos)

P.11 Students Michelle Nendza and Bailey Ouellette sign a wall in memory of the shooting victims at the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Steven Kazmierczak, 27, fired into a lecture hall packed with students at the university on February 14, killing six people and wounding 18 before killing himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)

P.12. Students pay respect to the memory of the shooting victims at the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Steven Kazmierczak, 27, fired into a lecture hall packed with students at the university on February 14, killing six people and wounding 18 before killing himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)

P.13. Crosses bearing the names of shooting victims have been placed on a hill overlooking the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Steven Kazmierczak, 27, fired into a lecture hall packed with students at the university on February 14, killing six people and wounding 18 before killing himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)



P. 14 

Taija Cockrell, left, an Northern Illinois University alumnus, Jennifer Jameau, an NIU junior, center and Nikiya Pruitt pray near the Holmes Student Center on the campus in DeKalb, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, a day after a lone gunman killed five people on the campus.(AP Photo/Rockford Register Star, Alan Leon)

P.15. Crosses bearing the names of shooting victims have been placed on a hill overlooking the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois February 15, 2008. Steven Kazmierczak, 27, fired into a lecture hall packed with students at the university on February 14, killing six people and wounding 18 before killing himself. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski (UNITED STATES)

P.16  he sun sets over six crosses bearing the names of the five victims and the gunman in Thursday's shooting, on a hill on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

NIU gunman stopped taking medication

Slideshow: Northern Illinois University Shooting

Chicargo Tribune Reports on the Norther Illinois University Shooting

The witnesses

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-niu_eyewitness_webfeb15,0,116554.story

'I was prepared for that to be my last moment'

Attacker fired wordlessly into a mass of students

By Josh Noel, James Kimberly and Robert Mitchum |Tribune staff reporter

12:26 AM CST, February 15, 2008

About 15 minutes were left in Geology 104: Introduction to Ocean Science,

and junior Dan Sweeney was checking the time when the door beneath the lecture hall's clock flew open.

In strode a thin young man dressed in black, a dark knit cap atop his head, a shotgun in his hands.

Time stopped. There was no fear, no panic in the half-full room—only an icy moment of bewilderment.

He ran into neighboring Neptune Hall, where other students noticed his wounds and helped him.

The ambulance came in a short time and they were fast about it," he said.
"I have three pellets in my head, but they said I'd be OK."









Ullinois State Rifle Association

http://www.isra.org/
"Let me protect my students, your children"
Commentary from a college professor
excerpt:
Years in classroom management in urban high schools, colleges and universities makes me attuned and alert to every individual, and their comings and goings in my classroom.

And because of the responsibility I feel toward my students, I would do whatever I could to protect their lives, even without a weapon. So why not arm me and give them a reasonable chance? ...

Read the whole commentary in the Chicago Tribune. 

Posted Tue Feb 19 22:43:09 CST 2008
Robert Levy, the man paying for a U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the District of Columbia's handgun ban, has built his own financial-data business and enrolled in law school as a 50-year-old.
The one thing he has never done is own a gun. ..
Read the whole story at Bloomberg.com 
Posted Tue Feb 19 22:39:02 CST 2008

Volunteers Needed for IGOLD - Illinois Gun Owner Lobby Day
Have you attended a Lobby Day event before?
Do you know how to find the legislators offices in the State Capitol?
Do you like helping others?

If you answered yes to these questions, and can commit to spending a day with your fellow gun owners in Springfield on March 11, then please consider being a volunteer to help others find their way around the Capitol complex.  For more details, click here to send an email to ISRA 1st Vice President Mike Weisman.   You will get a reply within a day or two.

Learn more about IGOLD here.

Posted Tue Feb 19 22:34:12 CST 2008

Chicago TV station asked viewers for comments on gun control

They posted over a hundred responses on their website, some are very good.

You can find the viewers' comments at CBS2Chicago.

County Resolutions
McHenry County - Full Board Vote Postponed
McHenry County Sportsman's Association President Lee Lexow was notified that the McHenry County Board has pulled the 2nd Amendment Resolution from the agenda on Tuesday, February 19 out of respect for the mourning families. They will be taking up the issue at a date to be determined. Lee will still be at the Lakemoor Gun Show on Sunday as previously noted.

Please do not go to the Board Meeting on Tuesday, February 19, expecting a board vote on the 2nd Amendment Resolution.

Super Tuesday

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Super-Tuesday/ss/events/pl/020408supertuesday

Tue Feb 19

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks to supporters during a rally on the morning of Wisconsin's primary,Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, in Brookfield, Wis. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)

Tue Feb 19 Republican presidential candidate and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks to supporters at a rally on the morning of Wisconsin's primary, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, in Brookfield, Wis. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)


Sat Feb 16

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., hugs her daughter, Chelsea at her Super Tuesday primary night rally in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008. Chelsea Clinton has emerged as a top surrogate for her mother as the former first lady has fallen behind Sen. Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Actress Joanna Gleason arrives at the opening night of 'Cyrano De Bergerac' on Broadway at The Richard Rodgers Theatre in this Nov. 1, 2007, file photo in New York. Gleason will star in 'Something You Did,'' a play by Willy Holtzman, opening April 1 at off-Broadway's Primary Stages. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)

Republican presidential candidate US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) tries to quieten down reporters asking "Is this the ticket?" after receiving the endorsement of former primary rival Mitt Romney, right, at Romney's campaign headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, February 14, 2008. REUTERS/Neal Hamberg

Thu Feb 14

Republican presidential candidate US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) speaks after receiving the endorsement of former primary rival Mitt Romney, right, at Romney's campaign headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts February 14, 2008. Romney asked his 200-plus delegates to vote for McCain at the Republican convention this summer. REUTERS/Neal Hamberg (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA)

Thu Feb 14

Republican US presidential hopeful and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee speaks during a campaign rally at Waukesha Country Inn and Springs February 13, in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. White House hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama seem to be already looking beyond their party primaries to the November elections, stepping up attacks in a sign of the possible bitter duel to come. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Joshua Lott)

Thu Feb 14

Former Republican presidential hopefull Mitt Romney (R) shakes hands with the Republican front-runner John McCain during his endorsement of McCain in Boston, Massachusetts. Romney bowed out of the presidential race following losses in past primaries incuding Super Tuesday last week. (AFP/Getty Images/Darren McCollester)

Republican presidential candidate US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (rear) smiles as he receives the endorsement of former primary rival Mitt Romney at Romney's campaign headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts February 14, 2008. Romney asked his 200-plus delegates to vote for McCain at the Republican convention this summer. REUTERS/Neal Hamberg (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA)

Thu Feb 14, 5:22 PM E

Republican presidential candidate US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) receives the endorsement of former primary rival Mitt Romney at Romney's campaign headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, February 14, 2008. Romney asked his 200-plus delegates to vote for McCain at the Republican convention this summer. REUTERS/Neal Hamberg (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 USA)

Thu Feb 14

Republican presidential candidate US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) receives the endorsement of former primary rival Mitt Romney, right, at Romney's campaign headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, February 14, 2008. Romney asked his 200-plus delegates to vote for McCain at the Republican convention this summer. REUTERS/Neal Hamberg (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA)

Thu Feb 14

Republican presidential candidate US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and former primary rival Mitt Romney arrive at Romney's campaign headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, February 14, 2008. Romney asked his 200-plus delegates to vote for McCain at the Republican convention this summer. REUTERS/Neal Hamberg (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA)

Thu Feb 14

Republican presidential candidate US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) speaks after receiving the endorsement of former primary rival Mitt Romney, right, at Romney's campaign headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, February 14, 2008. Romeny asked his 200-plus delegates to vote for McCain at the Republican convention this summer. REUTERS/Neal Hamberg (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA)

Thu Feb 14

Republican presidential hopeful Arizona Senator John McCain listens to a question during a press conference at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, DC, on February 13. White House hopefuls McCain and Barack Obama seem to be already looking beyond their party primaries to the November elections, stepping up attacks in a sign of the possible bitter duel to come. (AFP/File/Saul Loeb)

Thu Feb 14

Republican presidential hopeful Arizona Senator John McCain (R), speaks during a press conference alongside House Minority Leader John Boehner (C) of Ohio and House Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, DC. Hillary Clinton is hitting back hard at Barack Obama after her latest drubbing in primaries and counting on a Texas showdown to put her faltering campaign back on the road to the White House. (AFP/Saul Loeb)

Thu Feb 14

Caroline Morales and her brother Michael of Charlottesville, Virginia, hold up a campaign poster for Republican US presidential hopeful and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee prior to a campaign rally on February 11 in Richmond, Virginia. Hillary Clinton is hitting back hard at Barack Obama after her latest drubbing in primaries and counting on a Texas showdown to put her faltering campaign back on the road to the White House. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Alex Wong)

Wed Feb 13 Voters turn out in record numbers on February 5 in the state of Colorado to caucus for their candidate of choice (Photo and caption submitted by Alisha Shevlin)

Wed Feb 13 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama speaks to supporters at his Virginia, Maryland and Washington primary election night rally in Madison, Wisconsin, February 12, 2008. REUTERS/Allen Fredrickson

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Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is seen meeting with the media about a new neighborhood revitalization initiative in Detroit, Michigan in this May 15, 2007 file photo. Kilpatrick ended a week of seclusion, January 30, 2008, with a televised speech asking city residents and his family for forgiveness following a Detroit Free Press report last week of romantic text messages on his and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty's city-issued pager. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/Files (UNITED STATES)

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Christine Beatty, chief of staff to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, is seen in this undated file photo during a news conference in Detroit, Michigan. Beatty announced that she will resign her position as Kilpatrick's chief of staff, effective February 8, 2008. The Detroit Free Press reported on January 23, 2008 that Kilpatrick exchanged romantic text messages with Beatty, contradicting their denials in court that they had romantic ties.REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/Files (UNITED STATES)

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (R) and his chief of staff Christine Beatty (L) are seen in this undated file photo during a news conference in Detroit, Michigan. The Detroit Free Press reported on January 23, 2008 that Kilpatrick exchanged romantic text messages with Beatty, contradicting their denials in court that they had romantic ties. Woman in center of photo is unidentified. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook (UNITED STATES)

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (R) and his chief of staff Christine Beatty (L) are seen in this undated file photo during a news conference in Detroit, Michigan. The Detroit Free Press reported on January 23, 2008 that Kilpatrick exchanged romantic text messages with Beatty, contradicting their denials in court that they had romantic ties. Woman at center is unidentified.REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/Files (UNITED STATES)