DEKALB - Brittany Czerwinski was driving near Cole Hall on the Northern Illinois University campus when she saw a group of students running past.
She didn't think anything of it until one of them ran in front of her car.
"He had one shoe on, his head was bleeding and he was grabbing his head looking confused," said Czerwinski, a NIU senior.
He was one of 21 NIU students that was shot Thursday afternoon, when police say a former graduate student emerged from behind a curtain onstage in the large lecture hall with a shotgun and two handguns.
Six students, including the gunman, were reported dead. Sixteen were injured.
The shooting was the largest since those at Virginia Tech last April and again raised questions about campus security - this time closer to home.
The campus, located about 90 minutes west of Evanston in DeKalb, Ill., draws heavily on students from the Chicago area, said Weinberg senior and DeKalb native Colleen Fant.
"Ninety percent of my friends go to NIU," Fant said Thursday afternoon. "It's pretty scary, because I don't know who any of the people (in the shooting) are, and I probably know at least their names."
At about 7:30 p.m., the DeKalb campus was eerily barren. Police cars lined every opening to the campus, allowing only those on foot to enter.
Yellow caution tape wrapped the perimeter of the lecture hall, which students said was "the most popular place" for classes - the NIU equivalent of NU's Technological Institute.
A police trailer labeled "Critical Incident Response Team" was parked about 200 feet away.
Police were scattered inside the building while FBI and Crime Scene Investigation agents paced around the surrounding area.
With a daughter going to Northwestern and a native of Chicago, those as far away as Washington State -- where I am now -- grieve for those who have felt this awful pain. (Continued…)
Are we any closer to some rationale form of gun control that might have prevented this young man, and many others, from obtaining weapons? How sad for our nation that these young people were struck down when it is possible that we could have prevented this. (Continued…)
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Lou Brancaccio
posted 2/15/08 @ 1:30 PM CST
With a daughter going to Northwestern and a native of Chicago, those as far away as Washington State -- where I am now -- grieve for those who have felt this awful pain. (Continued…)
alex
posted 2/15/08 @ 10:45 PM CST
wait, didn't the shooter read the rules? no guns on campus!
David Glazer
posted 2/20/08 @ 8:27 AM CST
Are we any closer to some rationale form of gun control that might have prevented this young man, and many others, from obtaining weapons? How sad for our nation that these young people were struck down when it is possible that we could have prevented this. (Continued…)
Post a Comment