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.

[drbonkers]

Hello? Are we through?

[drbonkers]

Posted by drbonkers 2/14 to erasmus - ''If you live in Canada, why are you reading the American online news?''

...... responding to drbonkers, yamuttya posted at 06:32 AM : Feb 15, 2008....... ''Like all mindless Republican/NRA zealots...... when you dont have a leg to stand on..... Attack !''
------------------------

I am not, have never been, nor will EVER be a Republican. *shudder* I didn''t vote for dubbya. I don''t belong to the NRA. I don''t even have a reason to ''attack'' (your word) anybody.
Now march to the sink, yambutter, and wash your mouth out with soap!
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[buchbe]

Americans I love you. As a German, born and raised in Germany, I grew up among Americans at the Armed Forces Recreation Center Berchtesgaden. I can tell you, you are the most wonderful people in the world.
So I feel free to offer my advice: There is a need to change your laws about purchasing weapons. There is a saying in Germany: Only the coward feels himself strong with a gun in his hand. You Americans don4t need weapons in your hands, because America is the land of the brave. God bless you.

[erasmus6]

"TRue about anti- despressents and sucide."

Not ALL anti-depressents cause people to be suicidal. And not all people that are on the ones that do, will feel that way.

Ahh yes, typical gun lover who will jump on anything as to the reason why a person shoots someone. They use guns because they are easy to get and easy to use. It takes more effort and guts to use a knife and we all know that a gun lover doesn''t have any guts because he hides behind his gun!

[erasmus6]

"God help us all!" posted by mudmarine03

Yup, but I don''t know if that is going to happen. I think maybe He might have turned his back on all you sinners. I mean really, take a good look at the state of your country.

[erasmus6]

"We should look into whether or not the gunman is or was on anti-depressant medications." posted by gunownerdan

Oh yes, by all means, it must be because they were on anti-depressants! Not all anti-depressants cause problems. And if you are suggesting that they do it because they are depressed, how can that be? They are on anti-depressants, they shouldn''t be depressed then!

[erasmus6]

"Another "gun free zone", another mass shooting." posted by gunownerdan

What a bloody joke! When you have a country where guns are everywhere, how can you have a gun free zone? Do you think that all the idiots that are carrying guns are just not going to bring them into that one little building because someone says they aren''t allowed? A gun nut isn''t going to part with his itty bitty gun just because a building is a gun free zone. They may go through some kind of withdrawal or something!

[erasmus6]

"erasmus6 thinks he''''s safe in Canada,since he was too chickenshit to stay here.The canadian government has already outlawed guns,and that is why they will crumble like Poland against nazis if "their" government,or someone else,decides to "take care of them".posted by Jerkeedoodle

Who wants to vacation in a Country like yours that is full of hatred and people shooting each other?

You might have worries that YOUR government might "take care of you", but we don''t. We are not paranoid like you guys. Also we wouldn''t vote in a dictator like you guys. Especially TWICE! Shows the mentality of the majority of people living in your country.

[erasmus6]

"If you live in Canada, why are you reading the American online news?" posted by drBonkers

You know when you are driving down the road and there is this massive accident and people are lying on the road bleeding to death and everybody is stopping and looking to see what has happened? Well you''re the accident.:)

I read the articles here so I can keep up with what you guys are doing. After all, because we are your neighbors if some terrorists or some other country tries to eliminate you, it could effect us.

"what if you turn out to be so anti-American you conspire against the USA -- then everyone will say, duh!"

Hahahaha, that is just TOO FUNNY. Neither me nor anyone else has to conspire against the USA. Geez, all we have to do is sit back and watch the show! You guys are doing a bang up job eliminating yourselves!!!

[skyk-2009]

Look who in their right mind wants to send their kids to school KNOWING that the entire class is packing? Other nations do NOT have these problems now do they? Last time I checked we have MORE people die from guns than the rest of the Industrialized nations combined. We have got to change that.