Six Dead In N. Illinois Campus Shooting

Former Student Shoots 21 People, Kills Himself In Lecture Hall In Front Of Terrified Students

(CBS/AP)  A man dressed in black opened fire with a shotgun and two handguns from the stage of a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, killing five students and injuring 16 others before committing suicide, authorities said.

The gunman fatally shot four women and a man in a "brief, rapid-fire assault" that sent terrified students running for cover, university President John Peters said.

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

The gunman was a former graduate student in sociology at NIU, but was not currently enrolled at the 25,000-student campus about 65 miles west of Chicago, according to Peters.

The shooting was the fourth at a U.S. school within a week.

"At this point, I'm being told it was less than two minutes. This thing started and ended in a matter of seconds," Peters said, adding that police had no apparent motive.

Witnesses in the class said "someone dressed in black came out from behind a screen in front of the classroom and opened fire with a shotgun," Peters said.

The gunman shot himself on the stage in front of panicked students, reports CBS affiliate WBBM-TV.

Desiree Smith, a senior journalism major who was in the science class attacked, said students crawled on each other to get away from the shooter.

Minutes after the shooting erupted, many students say they phoned each other and sent text messages even before school officials could warn them. The school Web site announced a possible gunman on campus within 20 minutes of the shots and locked down the campus.

Peters said that the shooter was a former graduate student in sociology at NIU in the spring of 2007, but was not currently enrolled at the 25,000-student campus about 65 miles west of Chicago. He added that the gunman may have been enrolled at another Illinois state institution. Based on the preliminary investigation, it did not appear that the man had any prior arrest record.

Lauren Carr said she was sitting in the third row of the lecture hall around 3 p.m. 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 student. "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."'

Witness Jerry Sandoni was in the classroom at the time the shooting took place. He told the NIU newspaper, The Northern Star, that the gunman was not in the class the entire time but entered toward the end of class.

"He came in from the door on the stage and just started shooting. He didn’t say anything."

Sandoni described the shooter as a white male wearing a black shirt and said he had tattoos on his forearms.

According to the Web site of Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb, 18 patients arrived at the facility. One died, three were admitted and seven were discharged; six others were transferred to other hospitals in critical condition. At least one male died at OSF St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, an official said.

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

He described the scene immediately following the incident as terrifying and chaotic.

"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."

Northern Illinois students are talking about threats scrawled on a bathroom wall last December that include racial slurs and references to the Virginia Tech shootings earlier in the year, reports CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers. The campus was shut down for a day while university police determined there was no imminent threat. There is no word yet on if there is any connection with today's shooting.

CBS News anchor Katie Couric spoke over the phone to a witness who was in the lecture hall when the gunman entered. She asked to only be identified by her first name, "Katie."

"He started shooting. I just immediately dropped down to the ground," the student, Katie, said.

Witnesses said the young man carried a shotgun and a pistol. Student Edward Robinson told WLS 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."

Jillian Martinez, a freshman from Carpentersville, told the Chicago Tribune she was in the auditorium when the gunman entered through a door to the right of the lectern and opened fire about 3 p.m. "He just started shooting at all the kids," she said. "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).

Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting local authorities at the scene, spokesman Thomas Ahern told the Chicago Tribune.

He said he did not know whether the shooter was a student or what his motive might have been.

"We will be urgently tracing the firearms and learning the history of the weapons," Ahern said.

All classes were canceled Thursday night and the 25,000-student campus was closed on Friday. Students were urged to call their parents "as soon as possible" 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.

On Feb. 8, a woman shot two fellow students to death before committing suicide at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. In Memphis, Tenn., a 17-year-old is accused of shooting and critically wounding a fellow student Monday during a high school gym class, and the 15-year-old victim of a shooting at an Oxnard, Calif., junior high school has been declared brain dead.

[tbweb]

The Nations "First Responders", a lot more important than people think, they should be better equipped, better funded and their numbers increased. While everyone else is running in the opposite direction the "First Responders" are running right into the thick of it.

[yamuttya]

US gun laws are insane, as are those who support them.

[irliberal]

Those who defend the insane gun laws in this country are INSANE. They say well if they can''t kill with a gun they''ll use knives. Tell me this coward could have killed and injured as many people as he did with a few knives.

They say if you outlaw guns only criminals will have guns. Absolute nonsense. They will reduce the number of these events when getting a gun isn''t as easy as falling off a log. Only the heir to the throne of the kingdom of idiots could disagree with that.

[rudy654-2009]

It really has to come to the point that we must have all gun owners tested for conflict resolution skills. Any and all who fail the test must be denied a gun. This would focus on those who believe that it is their right to use violence when angered. It''s either that, or guns will be taken away from everybody. We just can''t keep having this week after week after week.

[erasmus6]

Posted by IRLiberal at 01:24 AM : Feb 15, 2008

I agree 100%!

People keep saying that if you take the guns away that the crime will go up. Well, you all still have your frickin'' guns and it most certainly isn''t going down. It is getting worse everyday. How many shootings is that now? And in a very short time.

Your country is out of control, when are you people going to WAKE THE FU(K UP!?

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by IRLiberal at 01:24 AM

You have it right. He was a filthy coward. No doubt an individual who thinks the world owes him something.

[erasmus6]

"It really has to come to the point that we must have all gun owners tested for conflict resolution skills. Any and all who fail the test must be denied a gun." posted by rudy654

I agree with what you say but that would mean that there would still be many people with guns in their homes and when someone breaks in they could get those guns. And that means there is no guarantee who is getting them. Also children can still get them.

[yamuttya]

Since the 1960s America''s reputation has been tanking.
In the 60''s America led by thought word and deed.
Kennedy''s soaring oratory inspired the world and Appollo 11 on the moon proved anything was possible.
Today in the wake of Watergate, Vietnam, Iraq and the dysfunctional psychos in the white house ,America has become a global punch line.
A joke. And a hated joke at that.
These regular outbursts of gun violence maintain the model of America as mad. The world clearly sees how you base this insanity on a clear MISINTERPRETATION of the 2nd amendment which was designed to combat hostilities in indian territory and to arm a MILITIA.
Please note:
The local neighborhood crack gang is NOT A MILITIA.
If and when America comes to its senses and passes sensible gun laws, maybe, just maybe the citizens of the world will begin to take America and Americans seriously again.
Until that day people will point to the globe and point out the only country to have such insane gun laws.
The United States of America.
Wake up America.
Get real.

[erasmus6]

"If and when America comes to its senses and passes sensible gun laws, maybe, just maybe the citizens of the world will begin to take America and Americans seriously again." posted by yamuttya

Nah, ain''t gonna happen.

[evm1928]

Gun ownership for self defense
How many shootings must take place, killing innocent victims, before the government understands that handguns need to be an essential part of our right to defend ourselves. As long as there are laws depriving law-abiding citizens from having a gun to defend themselves and to shoot down a mad, bad, or deranged gunman, we shall all become victims. The only reason there are mass killings is because those being killed are not allowed to have a gun to shoot back. The next time you see a mass killing, or even a single killing, remember, it could have been prevented, had the innocent victim been allow to carry a gun to defend themselves. More and more evidence is emerging that tells us that we should mandate gun ownership, and encourage citizens to arm themselves with both proper gun safty, and a proper handgun.

[evm1928]

Gun ownership for self defense
How many shootings must take place, killing innocent victims, before the government understands that handguns need to be an essential part of our right to defend ourselves. As long as there are laws depriving law-abiding citizens from having a gun to defend themselves and to shoot down a mad, bad, or deranged gunman, we shall all become victims. The only reason there are mass killings is because those being killed are not allowed to have a gun to shoot back. The next time you see a mass killing, or even a single killing, remember, it could have been prevented, had the innocent victim been allow to carry a gun to defend themselves. More and more evidence is emerging that tells us that we should mandate gun ownership, and encourage citizens to arm themselves with both proper gun safty, and a proper handgun.

[retiredusaf3]

So if all the students had been carrying guns this LOSER wouldn''t have gotten anyone. As soon as he showed up and pointed a weapon at 1 person his life would have ended and all the rest would be OK. These idiots would really think twice if all Americans were armed. There is no story in being killed by your fellow classmates when your an Idiot like this. You can gain no fame when you are unable to make your stupid statement. An unarmed society is a vulnerable society.

[yamuttya]

Anyplace that the people do not have the right to free expression and self determination, you can bet that the government has all the weapons
smcoh
Canada, England, France, Sweden, New Zealand....its a long list.....are the most peaceful, sane countries on earth.
Detroit, Newark, Chicago, Philly L.A. are shooting galleries. Not quite the same thing.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
American gun laws are insane.

[jcr103]

All you numbnuts that think carrying a concealed weapon will help in this type of situation are smoking weed. You''re proably the first to cut and run when the s*** hits the fan.

[yamuttya]

An unarmed society is a vulnerable society.
retired usaf

Read the writing on the wall!!!!!Stop this craziness !!!!There is blood in the streets!!!!!
The countries I listed below all have sane gun laws and are the safest, happiest places on earth.
YOU DONT NEED A GUN TO BE SAFE AND HAPPY.

[retiredusaf3]

LOL jcr103 I served my country for over 20 years. I currently have a concealed weapons permit and do carry where the LAW permits. Its no nothing LOSERS such as yourself that allow IDIOTS in this story to make the headlines that they do.

[jcr103]

LOLretiredusaf3 You gun freaks have this distorted and grandious view of yourselves. You all think you''re John Wayne but you are the first to cut and run when the trouble starts. Yet, you still pretend that you''d do something in this type of situation. You''d do something alright, s*** you''re pants.

[erasmus6]

"As long as there are laws depriving law-abiding citizens from having a gun to defend themselves and to shoot down a mad, bad, or deranged gunman, we shall all become victims." posted by evm1928

I have never heard of anything so bloody stupid in my life. You don''t have any laws depriving law-abiding citizens from having a gun! There are people out there that are mentally disturbed and they are getting guns LEGALLY! Children 14 years of age and children of any age with a parents signature can get a gun LEGALLY.

And if you are talking about this GUN FREE ZONE bullc-r-a-p, do you really think anyone is going to obey that?

If all the students had a gun there would be even MORE dead people. They would not have gotten off the first shots because they were suprised. And then when they went into PANIC MODE, they would have all been shooting and they would be hitting others and not necessarily the bad guys.

You people are pathetic. The United States is past the point of being able to fix themselves. It has gone too far. They are doomed.

[yamuttya]

England is about a year away from allowing Sharia law
SMCOH

THIS IS NONSENSE PAL AND YOU KNOW IT.Typical republican nra garbage to undermine the debate.
The rest of your post is misleading as well.
Your tactics are predictable and childish.
The simple fact is US gun laws are insane.
Stick to the point and leave the misleading garbage to the republican professionals.
PS
Let us all know when England adopts Sharia law!!!

LOL!!!

[gce65]

It''s funny--sad really--but I could come on here once a week and post a standard phrase like, "Guns don''t kill people, people do; guns just let them quickly kill more people," and not even keep up with all the killings. The problem is not that anti-gun laws keep people from protecting themselves, it''s that THERE ARE JUST TOO MANY GUNS IN A MERICA!

[retiredusaf3]

Well yamuttya how many of the crimes in those cities are commited by people who are law abiding citizens. How many are commited by crack addicted Gang Banger LOSERS. Read the FBI statistics. And you read stories all the time about these countries where some WACK JOB kills some one on the street there with a gun. OK Lets look a probably a Budy of your Michael Moore (can''t stand this LUNE). Looking for rates of high gun ownership? Check Sweden, Switzerland, and Canada -- all nations with high gun ownership and low gun death. According to Moore, violent crimes in the U.S. have actually dropped by about 20 percent in the U.S. over the last 20 years, yet news coverage of violent crime in the same period has gone up about 600 percent. SO you have bought into the LIBERAL MEDIA HYPE. Do some research and get a clue. Quit letting the news media ESPECIALLY CBS run your life.

[yamuttya]

Canada -- all nations with high gun ownership and low gun death.
retired usaf
Check the map. Canada is full of wilderness and there are lots of hunters, not crackheads like the US.
Also Its loon, not lune ( lune isn''t a word.A loon is a bird ))
Your ( facts !! ) are as screwed up as your spelling.
Get logical.
US gun laws are insane.

[jcr103]

Ooooh. It''s the liberal media that''s the problem. Catch a clue gun freeks. More guns equal more crime not less.

[retiredusaf3]

Well yamuttya you got part of my point. How many CRACK HEAD GANG BANGER LOSERS live in Canada. And if all you can do is pick apart my spelling then I really feel justified. :)

[yamuttya]

Finland and Switzerland have 2 of the highest per capita gun ownership rates in the world, and crime is virtually non-existent. As previously stated. The problem is a social and cultural one.
smcoh

The topic is US GUN LAWS!!!
Not Finn or swiss gun laws . Please lets not go off the rails here.
US GUN LAWS!!! oK?

US gun laws are insane ( just read the story above, its bloody obvious)

[retiredusaf3]

WOW jcr103 Then how come as stated before with Finland and Switzerland have 2 of the highest per capita gun ownership rates in the world, and crime is virtually non-existent. Humm Just don''t buy into yoru logic.

[yamuttya]

How many CRACK HEAD GANG BANGER LOSERS live in Canada.
retired usaf

Ever been to Rexdale ? Or Scarborough ?
Or East Van?

[retiredusaf3]

LOL yamuttya Ever been to New York Chicago LA?

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by retiredusaf3 at 02:49 AM

Switzerland is not the US!! Switzerland doesn''t believe in guns for everybody either!!! There is no constitutional right for guns in Switzerland. Your facts are skewed. Many Swiss men are on call for military service and must keep their weapon ready if called upon. The Swiss do not have the wild west gun mentality of you gun lovers.

[retiredusaf3]

LOL yamuttya. Ever been to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles? Sorry need to put my spelling corrections in before you ding me.

[erasmus6]

"Do some research and get a clue." posted by retiredusaf3

I think that you should take your own advise. Your gun crime has NOT gone down. And Canada does not have a high gunownership.

[pfd572]

erasmus6: while I agree with most of what your points about guns and gun laws, why do you have to be so insulting to the millions of people living in the US who are even more concerned and are fighting for change? it defeats your argument to voice your position with such venom. the US has stumbled before and is still a great country with some pretty incredible people, doing some pretty incredible (good, decent and laudable) things.

CHANGE GUN LAWS NOW.

[jcr103]

I''ve never met a gun freek who was secure with themselves. What are you people compensating for anyway?

[retiredusaf3]

lol erasmus6 You need to get your facts from someone other than CBS.

[yamuttya]

don''''t even know why I bother to try to make valid statements on these forums. What a bunch of freaking morons.


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Posted by smcoh326 at 02:41 AM : Feb 15, 2008


There is no comparing sane societies with lots of hunting and wildlife ( Finland, Switz. Canada) to the urban blight of America.
Virginia Tech, Illinois, name it! US society and its gun laws are out of control as is the psychotic white house and the nra.
America is a hate filled mess. Finland Switz, Canada etc are not.
Dont cloud the issue.
The issue is US gun laws, not Canadian or otherwise.
Each country is different.
Im making the case that:
US gun laws are insane!

[pfd572]

GUNS kill people, period. Too many legal weapons are for offensive, deadly use only. Too many legal weapons being used to kill people and not defensively. Read the papers, check news site and ask how many legal weapons are responsible for anger killings, kids killing kids, rampages?...one is too many. Until there is this magic ball that can predict behavior, we should remove the deadliest and most unnecessary, weapon.

[retiredusaf3]

Well Good Night everyone. To all you law abiding gun owners out there may you have sweet and peaceful dreams knowing that you can protect you home, family and frinds if the need ever arises. To all you others may your nightmares be easy on you tonight. LOL

[nh18971]

I think we should outlaw black clothing, that seems to be a contributing factor. The reporter mentioned it at least twice.

[gce65]

smcoh:
Yes, Switzerland and Finland do have high gun ownership rates and low crime rates. But most of those guns are rifles and "long-guns" as opposed to handguns. In Switzerland, they are part of military service and national readiness, not just collecting for its own sake. In Finland, again, most are long guns for national defense or hunting. Most of Finland is also rural and good hunting grounds. In neither of these countries do people simply "collect" huge amounts of firearms, especially handguns. Their citizens also tend to be less adversarial with respect to their laws and much more invested in social institutions and social wellfare than the prototypical "lone wolf" American" who thinks govt is the enemy.

[erasmus6]

"it defeats your argument to voice your position with such venom." posted by pfd572

I am just stating the FACTS. I am not saying that ALL Americans are idiots, just the ones that insist that guns solve all the problems. And you have to admit that is probably the vast majority of people.

The reason that I may be insulting is because I just can''t for the life of me understand how so many people can be so stupid. And I figure if they are that stupid, they don''t deserve "NICE".

Your country is like an ALIEN world. No one can understand your way of life. You are like a bunch of ....I can''t think of the word....BARBARIANS. It''s like you are a primitive people or something.

[erasmus6]

"lol erasmus6 You need to get your facts from someone other than CBS." posted by retiredusa3

I hate to tell you this but I don''t get all my facts from CBS. I have relatives that live in the U.S. Plus my grandparents, parents and myself have all owned property in the U.S. for years, up until recently. We have spent much time there.

[tibu987]

I shudder to think of how you can tell a parent that their child was killed at school in a senseless shooting. I feel so saddened and hurt and I am an outsider. I just cannot imagine being the person who has to tell them, let alone being the parent to hear it. It is indeed a strange and mad world that we live in.

[erasmus6]

"Well Good Night everyone. To all you law abiding gun owners out there may you have sweet and peaceful dreams knowing that you can protect you home, family and frinds if the need ever arises. To all you others may your nightmares be easy on you tonight. LOL" posted by retiredusa3

Well good night all my fellow Canadians. May you have sweet and peaceful dreams knowing that you don''t have to have a gun to protect yourself because there isn''t anything that you need to protect yourself from!

[gce65]

erasmus:
I don''t take offense to your description of American society because I know what you mean. The concept of "the ugly American" is known around the world; typically loud, sometimes rude, ignorant of social customs and cultures. We expect the rest of the world to adjust to us.

[smirk5]

If Al-Qaeda did this, Cons would be ready to invade another country that had nothing to do with it.

[erasmus6]

"I don''''t take offense to your description of American society because I know what you mean." posted by gce65

You are probably the only one that doesn''t take offense. Well, that isn''t true, I guess, others have said they agreed with what I have said and it wasn''t just my fellow Canadians that agreed, it was Americans too! I am very BLUNT when it comes to saying what I think. I was born that way.:)

[getaclue30]

GUNS CAN NOT MURDER, they have no life and are just a piece of metal. So, with that being said it''s the individuals holding the guns that make this issue debatable at all.

Laws are made to govern our country and we have to understand that in any situation "YOU CAN NOT PLEASE ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME". Crazy is as crazy does.

No matter the constraints placed on the law or citizens of our country a person that is determined to deviate will find a way. I personally feel safe having a choice.

Our problem now is finding a way to increase the likelihood that "you will get caught when attempting to deviate".

I pose that more schools invest in metal detectors and place them in areas that would deter "the crazies of our world".

Scenario: You live in a small town and this guy goes into the local Dollar General and opens fire on his girlfriend because she broke up with him. A man in the store has a conceal and carry permit....he kills the shooter dead.

Only in reality there was no indivisual with a conceal and carry permit...the gunman killed his girlfriend and then himself.

True story,case closed.

[jerkeedoodle]

Jefferson himself saw the need for us to protect ourselves from tyrants.The right to keep and bear arms wasn''t added so you could hunt,or play cowboys and indians,it was added so that if an individual or group didn''t follow the rules,we would have the means to remove them from power.Humanism would have you believe that all men are basically good,and can be reasoned with.See how far you would get with Bin Laden if you came face to face with him.You think he''d "see the light"?I bought into it too,and was always unhappy since I expected the other guy to do the right thing.I am happier now since I''ve faced the fact that the human race is basically evil.I don''t expect anything from anyone anymore.When you boil it all down,you could say that every group that our government has gone after,domestic and abroad,are people that think differently than the so called "norm".The extreme right would have you think that they want you to have guns,but even they are trying to limit it to hunting weapons and pistols,even going so far as to make ammunition that goes bad if not used within a certain amount of time,so that you can''t stockpile it.Do you think GW really cares how you feel about what he''s done to the country?Do you think he''ll see the light of reason?What would you do if he started rounding up everyone that opposes him and the war,since,as he sees it,it''s for the good of the country to fight Islamic extremists,and everyone here that doesn''t agree is in essence a traitor?Can''t happen here?

[yamuttya]

Well good night all my fellow Canadians. May you have sweet and peaceful dreams knowing that you don''''t have to have a gun to protect yourself because there isn''''t anything that you need to protect yourself from!




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Posted by erasmus6 at 03:20 AM : Feb 15, 2008

Exactly.
Case closed

[vreeland4]

There are too many guns in society.
Get rid of the ones that are used to kill people.
Stop the NRA and their lies.
Guns kill.
I am,

George Vreeland Hill