5 shot dead, including gunman, at Northern Illinois University

[JLB]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/14/university.shooting/index.html

A gunman dressed in black walked from behind a curtain at the front of a large lecture hall Thursday at Northern Illinois University and shot 22 people, four fatally, then killed himself, authorities said.

Seventeen victims were taken to Kishwaukee Community Hospital, its Web site said.

Of those, six were in critical condition and were flown to other hospitals. One fatality, a male, was confirmed -- but was not the gunman, the hospital said. Two were admitted, and three others were discharged. The other five were not addressed on the Web site.

Most of the injuries are head and chest gunshot wounds, a spokeswoman tells CNN.

The shooting occurred shortly after 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) in Cole Hall. The class runs from 2 p.m. until 3:15 p.m., university President John Peters said.

[ricogarion]

What can posess people to become such monsters? I am sickened by these acts and hoping that someday we can identify these troubled souls sooner and provide them the help necessary to keep them from acting out!

[TallskiWallski83]

maybe if our government stepped up and outlawed guns we wouldnt have shootings like this.


serioulsly what is this country coming to when you cant even attend a college lecture without worrying some psycho is gonna pull out a gun and shoot you.

I go to UB which has huge lecture halls just like V tech and illinois and you wonder what the odds are that someone will do something like this.

[GilPerreault]

I work and go to NIU and I was at work in the Convocation Center's offices at the time of the shooting which is the athletic arena on campus. I don't have much to add. I was in the AD's offices before I left work today and our AD's secretary was trying to get in contact with Virginia Tech's AD when I was in there so our AD could speak with him. I just heard the shooter was a former NIU grad student. This is just surreal, you just don't expect it to happen on your campus.

[Lateralus]

All you can really do is shake your head. I can't think of anything to add to this right now.

[Meathead]

Man Opens Fire at N. Illinois University, Killing 5, Wounding 16 Others Before Killing Himself

A former student dressed in black opened fire with a shotgun and two handguns from the stage of a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, 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. Four died at the scene, including the gunman, and the other two died at a hospital, he said. Two victims were in critical condition.

Investigators did not know what led the gunman, a former NIU graduate student in sociology, to spray bullets at the geology class instructor and dozens of students in the large hall around 3 p.m.

"I kept thinking, 'Oh God, he's going to shoot me. Oh God, I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead,'" said Desiree Smith, a senior journalism major who dropped to the floor near the back of the auditorium.

"People were crawling on each other, trampling each other," she said. "As I got near the door, I got up and I started running."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=4294354

[Meathead]

move my thread will ya ILL KILL YOU!!!!

sry shouldnt joke

[Woody]

Man.. seems like you have to put your life on the line to get an education these days. Scary stuff. :niterider

[pmoon6]

maybe if our government stepped up and outlawed guns we wouldnt have shootings like this.


serioulsly what is this country coming to when you cant even attend a college lecture without worrying some psycho is gonna pull out a gun and shoot you.

I go to UB which has huge lecture halls just like V tech and illinois and you wonder what the odds are that someone will do something like this.

When you outlaw guns, only the outlaws will have them.

[dasaybz]

These campus shootings are scary as hell. What can we do to stop this from happening?

[JLB]

you'll never stop a maniac you never know when they'll snap.

[TallskiWallski83]

When you outlaw guns, only the outlaws will have them.

then how come there is hardly any gun violence in countrys like japan or england?


the people who are in favor of having guns are wealthy suburbanites who are hardly ever the victims of gun related crimes.

and while we are at it, why in the world did we legalize semi automatic weapons? There are gangs on the streets now with more powerful weapons than our police officers.


guns arent necessary, you dont need them to protect yourself.

[pmoon6]

then how come there is hardly any gun violence in countrys like japan or england?


the people who are in favor of having guns are wealthy suburbanites who are hardly ever the victims of gun related crimes.

and while we are at it, why in the world did we legalize semi automatic weapons? There are gangs on the streets now with more powerful weapons than our police officers.


guns arent necessary, you dont need them to protect yourself.Just so you know, there is a bill before Congress expanding the 1994 Clinton gun ban. It was tabled presumably until after the Presidential election. Alot of semi autos would become illegal.

Australia banned guns and the crime rate went up 40%.

Guns are necessary for me. I feed my family with mostly wild game and fish. Also, when you're out in the bush, it's a pretty good idea to carry a sidearm. You never know what you're going to run into.

Bottom line is that those gangs that you speak about would still have weapons if they were outlawed. So would nutjobs like this guy. You would create an even bigger black market than what you have know. The one's that wouldn't have them are law abidding citizens and sportsmen.

[C Darwin]

And WOW, look what we have going on at the same time...
The 2nd Amendment's Day in Court
By Oliver North
Friday, February 15, 2008
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/OliverNorth/2008/02/15/the_2nd_amendments_day_in_court
WASHINGTON -- When the Council of the District of Columbia enacted the toughest gun control law in the nation in 1976, the city fathers -- according to what they said at the time -- believed they were making our nation's capital a safer place. The measure failed miserably. Since passage, the murder rate in the District has skyrocketed by more than 200 percent. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has a chance both to make our capital safer and to ensure that the Second Amendment to our Constitution is enshrined as an individual right for every law-abiding American.

No matter how well-intentioned, the D.C. firearms statute has been unfathomable from the start. On its face, the law bans handguns and requires rifles and shotguns to be registered. They also must be stored unloaded and either locked or disassembled. While it allows business owners to use firearms to protect their cash registers at their stores, they cannot use those same firearms to protect themselves and their families in their homes. Individuals who protect federal officials and property in the District with firearms are not permitted to provide similar protection for themselves and their families in their own domiciles.

In fact, the case that the Supreme Court will hear, District of Columbia v. Heller, was brought by Dick Heller, a security guard. In carrying out his duties, Heller carries a handgun on federal property. However, when he sought to register the same weapon to safeguard his home, he was denied. Heller says the D.C. law has it backward: "I can protect (federal workers), but at the end of the day, they say, 'Turn in your gun; you can't protect your home.'" Heller maintains that disassembled rifles and shotguns are no substitute for handguns "any more than the government could prohibit books because it permits newspapers and considers them an 'adequate substitute.'"

Last March, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, 2-1, that the District's prohibition was not only unreasonable but also clearly unconstitutional. Attorneys for the District of Columbia promptly appealed the decision. That is why on March 18, for the first time since 1939, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on whether such a gun ban for law-abiding citizens is constitutional. Their verdict, expected later this year, will have profound implications for all Americans.

The case has generated a flurry of unprecedented action in both the executive and legislative branches of government. On Jan. 11, the Department of Justice filed an egregiously weak amicus -- friend of the court -- brief in the case. The argument, submitted by U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, essentially urges the Supremes to waffle on the issue and send the case back to the lower courts.

The DOJ softball didn't sit well with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. On Feb. 8, she filed an amicus brief on behalf of Heller and the exercise of his individual rights under the Second Amendment: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

In her lucid and detailed exposition, Hutchison accurately points out that the Framers never intended that the word "Militia" meant that the right to keep and bear arms was some kind of "collective" right that applied only to a particular group. If that had been their purpose, they would have been satisfied with Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution that gives Congress the power "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions."

To ensure that firearms possession was recognized by posterity as an "individual right," the Framers included it as part of the Bill of Rights -- an enumeration of every citizen's personal entitlements: free speech, freedom of religion, and a fair trial. The precise location of those famous words -- "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms" -- provides strong evidence for the Founders' vision.

To foreclose any doubt where Congress comes down on the issue, Hutchison has introduced a bill to repeal the District of Columbia's ban on handguns; repeal registration requirements; and restore the ability of law-abiding citizens to keep a loaded, operable firearm in their homes. Doing less denies the meaning of the words "shall not be infringed."

Her argument was so persuasive that 54 additional senators and 250 members of the House of Representatives -- including 68 Democrats -- signed on. Vice President Dick Cheney -- apparently at odds with the administration's Department of Justice -- did so, as well. Let's hope the Supreme Court will agree with these enlightened members of Congress -- and Abraham Lincoln, who said, "Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties."

[pabillsfan]

Unfortunately I don't think it would be possible stop all these killings from happening. Even if you tried to ban guns in the US people would still smuggle guns into the country and they will ultimately land in the hands of the wrong people. Or you will probably have underground groups finding a way to manufacture their own weapons. Plus if you could find a way to take away all guns they will probably resort to other ways such as bombs, etc.

[nehemiah]

i blame affirmative action.

[TallskiWallski83]

Just so you know, there is a bill before Congress expanding the 1994 Clinton gun ban. It was tabled presumably until after the Presidential election. Alot of semi autos would become illegal.

Australia banned guns and the crime rate went up 40%.

Guns are necessary for me. I feed my family with mostly wild game and fish. Also, when you're out in the bush, it's a pretty good idea to carry a sidearm. You never know what you're going to run into.

Bottom line is that those gangs that you speak about would still have weapons if they were outlawed. So would nutjobs like this guy. You would create an even bigger black market than what you have know. The one's that wouldn't have them are law abidding citizens and sportsmen.

wrong. this nutjob bought his gun legally.


i view it like the drinking age...you'll be able to get a gun if you still want it bad enough, but the punishment/effort it requires to obtain one wont be worth it in a lot of cases.

at least make every gun owner undergo a some sort of psychiatric evaluation before they can get one. People with suicidal thoughts shouldnt be allowed to purchase them.

its just disturbing things like this happen, hell the superbowl almost turned into a mass murder. Theres gotta be a way to prevent things like this. Personally I blame the media, the kids who shoot up these schools get so much national attention that it spreads the idea around.

[FamousAmos]

the only person should be blamed is the gunman, himself.

[stevesy]

Being at Virginia Tech there's a lot of response on campus and from Steger our president right now. Everyone is definitely feeling for everyone at NIU. This kind of thing is just unfathomable in every sense of the word. It makes me completely sick to think about so I've definitely been avoiding the news, as I think a lot of VT students have. They love to glorify this type of thing.

I really just can't begin to express my disgust for this type of thing. Just how easily these could have been prevented... It's really awful. What's wrong with people?

[GilPerreault]

I went to the NIU vigil tonight in the Holmes Student Center. I met Jesse Jackson who spoke at it. He was a very good speaker and a nice guy. He spoke about death, God, stated the Bible and you can tell why he has been a successful politician, and public speaker. I also found out the shooter had 4 guns, not three. The chief of campus police, Tom Brady, made it to the scene within 29 seconds but the shooter had killed himself by then. Tom Brady is going to Iraq in August to help to put together and plan an Iraqi police department. He has already spent time in Iraq. The guy is a true professional and will be speaking to the NIU male student athletes later this month. I have helped to put that event together and it was planned before the event on Vanentines Day.