Shooting at Illinois college campus

[villanelle75]

A gunman opened fire Thursday in a lecture hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University, and more than a dozen people were reported injured. Police sources told NBC affiliate WMAQ of Chicago that the shooter may have taken his own life.

Hospitals told to expect up to 15 victims. Article here. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23171567)

[phoenics]

Oh no. It's so sad how common this is becoming!

[imagirliegirl]

This is just ridiculous.

I'm sure it's especially rough around there since that Lane Bryant shooting just happened in Chicago.

There was a bomb threat on my campus the other day. It was pretty freaking scary. Nothing came of it, but with everything crazy that's going on, you can't ignore stuff like that. Thankfully, the police here are really alert after the mall shooting. Ugh.

[PinkMartini]

It's horrible that every time I turn on the news I'm hearing of another school shooting/attempted school shooting! Crazy days these are :eek:

[Irish Elf]

Let's see - we've had two school shootings, a riot at one of the affected schools, a 7th grader was caught with a gun yesterday. And I think there is one more. And all this happened in the past 3 weeks.

Last night the news interviewed a father about what parents could do. He's sitting there talking about parents getting involved and going to the schools to meet other parents, etc, etc and in the back seat his 8 year old child is giving gang signs to the camera man.

I don't remember schools/malls being this dangerous. Is it that we are hearing about it more b/c of the internet or is it really happening this much more?

Thoughts and prayers with those hurt at Northern Illinois Univ.

[villanelle75]

Five dead, plus the shooter. 18 injured (not sure if that includes the 5/6 dead).

So far, they don't even think he was a student there.

[imagirliegirl]

It blows my mind that he wasn't even a student there. WHY would he do this? It's not like he can blame it on hating his school.

But I guess there's no reason for most of this. Why did that asshole kill people at our mall? Why did someone shoot people shopping at Lane Bryant? It's just awful and really disheartening.

If you want to kill yourself that's your business but leave the innocent people the hell out of it. :mad:

I swear, every time I start to "recover" a little from the incident here something else horrifying happens. It's not a good feeling to sit in the library and be nervous because there are so many people in it. My classes are pretty small, but hell, by the time we noticed someone out of place it would be too late.

Five dead, plus the shooter. 18 injured (not sure if that includes the 5/6 dead).



CNN says it's 4 + him. Not that it makes it any better.

[villanelle75]

Yahoo had 4 when I posted, then as soon I was done, I looked again and it was updated to 5 (plus shooter). I think it said another 16 were wounded.

[imagirliegirl]

Yeah I just came back to say that same thing. I have a feeling the count may continue to rise. The story says he shot most of them in the head. :(

[imagirliegirl]

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.

From the school's website. (http://www.niu.edu/index.shtml)

It makes me so sad. On the site earlier it said something to the effect of shooter on campus, get to safety. Frightening. :(

[Bucktown]

Our news (Chicago) is saying 5+ shooter. WGN's weather guy, Tom Skilling, broke down on camera. I guess he had an intern that was shot and injured.

I am sick. Last week there was the Lane Bryant shooting, no arrest made, now this. I already have panic disorder issues. I'm terrified for my kids.

we've had two school shootings, a riot at one of the affected schools, a 7th grader was caught with a gun yesterday. And I think there is one more. And all this happened in the past 3 weeks.

Last night the news interviewed a father about what parents could do. He's sitting there talking about parents getting involved and going to the schools to meet other parents, etc, etc and in the back seat his 8 year old child is giving gang signs to the camera man

Is this in Chicago???? I usually don't watch the news because it depresses me so I wouldn't be surprised.

[Jenyfer9]

I'm an adult leader for a high school group and I know that several of my kids have friends at NIU and were considering going to NIU themselves... I can't help but think that many of them are going to be questioning their choice. My BIL and SIL were married at VT the summer before last, so that tragedy was close to home ...now this at NIU where many of my friends went and my dad did his graduate work... in addition to the Lane Bryant shootings a few miles from me... it's just too much to take in sometimes.

[trefoil]

For those who wish to express condolences to the NIU community, someone created a livejournal for that purpose.

http://community.livejournal.com/weareallhuskies/

The creator linked it to the regular NIU livejournal community, so NIU folks know that it's there.

[imagirliegirl]

NIU officials have confirmed the names of the following students killed in the shooting:

* Daniel Parmenter, age 20, last of Westchester, Ill.
* Catalina Garcia, age 20, last of Cicero, Ill.
* Ryanne Mace, age 19, last of Carpentersville, Ill.
* Julianna Gehant (pronounced Ghee-hant), age 32, last of Mendota, Ill.
* Gayle Dubowski, age 20, last of Carol Stream, Ill.


It grosses me out that the media is putting this asshole's picture everywhere before they even have pictures of the VICTIMS. As long as the media glorifies their actions, people are going to continue to do this.

It's like the guy here, his wish was to "be famous". So CNN, Yahoo, local media etc...were more than happy to grant his wish. I say, ignore these people. If the media would stop giving them the fame they desire, maybe people will realize pulling crap like this isn't going to get them anything but dead. :mad:

[phoenics]

I saw on the elevator news thingee that this was the 4th school shooting this week?!?!

What on earth is happening?

I can't help but think the shooting yesterday was related to Valentine's Day. Wasn't there something in history called the Valentine's Day Massacre? It was in Italy - Sicily, I think?

[imagirliegirl]

They had a blurb about the 4 in the paper today. It was the one in Louisiana last week, a kid who shot someone in his high school, and another kid who shot someone in his junior high. I can't remember what states they were in. I guess they didn't get a lot of attention because they weren't "mass" shootings.

I am not reading the news anymore today. I cannot stand to see this guy's face.

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was actually in Chicago in the 1920s, between Capone's gang and Bugsy Moran's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre

[laura]

That is sad to think it isn't "news" if it isn't large scale anymore. I think any school shooting is noteworthy (obviously in a bad way).

[phoenics]

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was actually in Chicago in the 1920s, between Capone's gang and Bugsy Moran's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre

Ah - thanks... well that makes this whole thing even more eerie and similar... well, that they happened on the same day and in the same state.

[BeakersTrio]

I live fairly close to the campus - about a 1/2 hour away. NIU is a really popular college to go to in our area just because of its proximity to Chicago. It is just west of the 'burbs. I was enrolled there for a brief time myself and had countless friends graduate from there.

The general feeling in our area is absolute bleakness. I don't know anyone that wasn't affected in some way, whether through friends or family. One of the kids who passed away was from my home town. It's just surreal, especially with the Lane Bryant shooting just a week earlier. A few weeks before that I found out that a high school classmate was killed.

My heart just goes out to all the victims, families, and students and everyone else who has some involvement in some way.

[imagirliegirl]

Victim photos and stories here. (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-niu_eyewitness_webfeb15,0,116554.story)

These are so awful. Most of them were really young. The one "older" woman, Julianna, was 32 and had lost her fiance to a car accident. She was trying to rebuild her life. Poor thing. :(