Northern Illinois University Shooting (Update: 6 fatalities)

[wOOgiE22]

Man this is getting absolutely ridiculous, just sickening!

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330730,00.html

[trwi7]

From the front page of Northern Illinois University's website.

 

http://www.niu.edu/alert/images/safety_alert.jpg

 

 

[hawing]

Man this is getting absolutely ridiculous, just sickening!

At the moment, I can't think of a better way to put it myself. Man, oh man.

[trwi7]

Three people are dead including the gunman.

[BuckyTuba]

just got in contact with my friend who went to law school there. he's alright...... thank god.

[TooLiveBrew]

Thank goodness, BT! Glad for both you & your friend. The randomness of these occurances are what's most frightening about them imho.

[RyDogg66]

At the only other message board I post at, one of the posters was in this class when this happened - he made it out. I lose faith in humanity and society every time this stuff happens.

[hawing]

From the NIU website:

NIU can confirm six fatalities, including the gunman. Four of the dead were female and two, including the gunman, were male. In total, there were 22 injured or killed.

NIU can confirm that the shooter was an NIU graduate student in sociology in the Spring of 2007 but was not currently enrolled.

 

 

[JimH5]

It is just so sad for the families of those who were killed and hurt. . .

 

They are experiencing a pain that thankfully, most of us will never have to.

 

At some point we have to make some significant, impactful changes in our culture so that people can't shoot other people. There are mentally ill people and wicked people, and there will always be.

 

But they don't have to be armed.

[JohnBriggs12]

My daughter transferred to NIU this semester. Fortunately she reached me around 3:30 yesterday afternoon from her room before I had heard what happened. Many parents could not reach their sons or daughters because the cell's were overloaded.

 

My heart goes out to the families of the victims of this senseless act.

[Fatter than Joey]

I didn't realize this -- but the NIU shooting was the 4th school shooting this week.

[jaybird2001wi]

I just realized something. Back when I was a sophomore at UW-W, I applied as a transfer student to Marquette, Carthage and Northern Illinois University. I got accepted to all three, but when I found out my cousin from Zion/Beach Park, Ill. was an alum from there, she decided to try to hook me up with a scholarship. Turns out that based on the academic plan NIU gave me, I would have been ON CAMPUS at the time of the shooting (I am 25 and NIU decided UW-W credits were not worth transferring over). Man, one decision nearly five years ago can make you really think now. Three reasons I decided not to go to NIU were a) The dorms were ultra-small and rat holes, b) they wanted to start me "fresh" as a freshman even though I would have been a junior in the UW system at the time, c) although my cousin did the best she could, the tuition would still be insanely high as an out-of-state student.

But as a person who worked with NIU alums at my last internship, it kind of makes me think about things. No University or College can be 100 percent effective in combating these situations. As tough as this may sound, no one can really anticipate these kind of things even if they have an effective plan of action in place.

 

But the one thing I am interested in learning about this situation is if the gunman had a FOID card (Firearm Owner ID card) which is mandated by Illinois law, heck even Tank Johnson formerly of the Bears got busted for not having one. But if the gunman did not have one prior to his suicide, who was the person who provided the guns to him in the first place?

But based on my understanding of Illinois law (I had to learn it in my internship) a person who possesses a FOID card can be exempt from law if a police outfit were to pull them over on a routine traffic stop and find guns in their possession. FOID cards are issued based on a person's criminal history and mental health history. If the known assailant had three firearms and killed (NOW 7 FATALITIES) and did not have a FOID card, Illinois State Police can trace the firearms back to the original owner based on serial numbers on the guns. If this is the case, the person who was once the original owner and did not report the guns as stolen could be held liable for the shootings based on civil and criminal courts. If the person was indeed issued a FOID card without any regard for his past (if he did indeed had a history), the person who issued it could be held liable.

But based on my observations as a news intern, Illinois does have strict laws in regards to gun control (ie: Tank Johnson's guns were licensed or certified in the state of Arizona and were not in Illinois, so hence, he faced Illinois State Laws for failing to apply for a FOID card). This could be a lengthy investigation by the Illinois State Police.

[homer]

Latest is that he had stopped taking his medication.

[GoudaBrew]

Just crazy. I live 2 blocks away from where he did (didn't know him, obviously). Kind of strange to think about.

 

By the way, long time reader, first time poster. Odd that THIS brought me out of the shadows to post.

[JonnyLungs]

When this first happened and I saw the name of the shooter, it rang a bell. I went to school with this guy, in elementary school. My small little country elementary school in the Sauk Prairie School system has produced two murderers now.

[temke]

it appears this is not the same person:

 

http://buckyville.yuku.com?topic=4073

[JonnyLungs]

Hmmph... That sounds like a pretty bad error if it was reported by the WSJ. I didn't really think it looked like him (especially the high school photo) but I hadn't really seen him or remembered him since elementary school. Then I hear from my roomate that says it was him.

 

The Stephen Kazmierczak I went to school with is probably a bit peeved at the moment.

[temke]

definitely some shady journalism. i hope the sauk guy gets a personal apology from the WSJ. Like in person at his front door. what a ridiculous error to print. everyone seems to quick to report stories these days...things like this happen way too much

 

EDIT: here is the story "retracting" the comments.

 

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/273363

[JonnyLungs]

Interesting. I think Chris Grinde, principal at SP deserves some culpability here. He obviously tried to cover his behind in the retraction. But why would Sauk Prairie try to inject themselves into this when he graduated from Stoughton.

 

I know Grinde, and let's just say that I wouldn't put something like that past him. Let's just say he is a bit of a divisive figure. I never liked the guy, so I'm a bit biased. But that seems just like him to inject himself and the school into a national story and then when it's revealed that this was not the case, he goes into cover-my-tracks role.

 

I could be wrong, who knows. Stoughton didn't make a big deal of it, perhaps because they did their own research and knew this was not the same guy.