Pound Pup Legacy

7th person dies after campus attack

At least 15 others injured; shooter kills self after targeting students

NBC News and MSNBC
updated 7:44 a.m. ET,
Fri., Feb. 15, 2008

DEKALB, Ill. - Another student shot has died after a former student armed with two handguns and a shotgun opened fire at a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, bringing the toll to seven, including the gunman, the DeKalb Co. coroner told NBC News Friday. At least 15 others were injured.

University President John G. Peters described Thursday's attack as a “very brief, rapid-fire assault.” Fifteen other students were injured by gunfire or flying glass, authorities said.

All of the victims were students, including the shooter and the instructor, a graduate teaching assistant, who survived, Peters said. At least one of the wounded were hospitalized in critical condition.

The gunman, who was not identified, was a former graduate student at NIU but had since enrolled at another college, Peters said. None of the victims were identified pending notification of their families.

University Police Chief Donald Grady said police knew of no motive for the shooting, which occurred about 3 p.m. CT in an introductory geology class in an auditorium inside Cole Hall. The campus is in DeKalb, a city of 40,000 in a rural area about 65 miles west of downtown Chicago. Its enrollment is more than 25,000.

Paul Sundstrom of Rockford, Ill., one of 150 to 200 students in the class when the shooting took place, told NBC affiliate WMAQ that the gunman was a thin white man wearing a black “beanie” and a black trench coat.

The man entered the room from behind the instructor and, without saying a word, began shooting from the stage, Sundstrom and other witnesses said. Firing in the general direction of the students, he emptied a clip of ammunition and calmly reloaded before resuming firing.

“He just walked in and just started shooting at people randomly,” Sundstrom said. “I crawled out to the main aisle, then just got up and ran and turned around and saw him shooting.”

Sundstrom added: “I just don’t know why anybody would want to do anything like this.”

Eighteen victims were brought to Kishwaukee Community Hospital, where one died, according to the hospital’s Web site. One male was transferred in critical condition and died at OSF St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, an official said.

Threat closed school in December
NIU was shut down for a day in December after graffiti were scrawled on a restroom wall warning of a shooting on campus. A spokesman said the warning, which was discovered Dec. 10, made reference to the massacre of 33 people last year at Virginia Tech University. Peters said Thursday’s shootings were not believed to be connected with the threat, but he would not rule it out.

Virginia Tech’s president, Charles W. Steger, said Thursday’s events “certainly bring to mind the hurt, pain and trauma we experienced less than a year ago.” He said he had sent Peters condolences and an offer of assistance.

“Our university community was bolstered and comforted by the outpouring of support from campuses around the nation and the world,” Steger said in a statement. “I am sure that expressions of support from the Virginia Tech community will mean much to that now suffering campus community.”

In keeping with a new security system put in place after the Virginia Tech shootings, NIU issued an alert at 3:20 p.m. CT Thursday telling students to avoid Kings Common and buildings in the area. All activities were canceled until further notice.

Witnesses describe scene of chaos
Cell phone service in the area was overloaded. The university urged all students to send text messages to their parents to reassure them that they were safe and to aid in accounting for everyone.

David Shaffer got a call from his stepdaughter, Lisa Mikolajewski, a senior, minutes after the shooting. She told her stepfather she had not seen the shooting but was calling to let her parents, who live in Phoenix, know she was unhurt.

Shaffer passed along a Facebook message from his stepdaughter, who said she and her boyfriend were safe.

Mikolajewski wrote that her boyfriend “saw the shooter after he had been shot.”

“Christine (my roommate) was forced into lock down which is why I couldn’t find her. But she sent me a facebook message letting me know that she is safe and at a close friend’s house. So at least as far as I know my friends are safe. I hope it stays that way. No one can get a phone call out. So it’s pretty much chaos.”

Daley Hamilton of DeKalb, who was in DuSable Hall, next to Cole Hall, said he went down to the second floor and discovered a student lying on the ground.

“An administrator told us that the man had been shot,” Hamilton told msnbc.com. “She said he had been shot twice, once in the back and once in the leg. She said he had been dragged over from Cole Hall.

“He was breathing, and everyone was trying to stay calm. They told us not to leave, but I wanted to get home. I left DuSable and walked straight to my apartment.”

T.J. Johnson told msnbc.com that Molly’s, an off-campus bar and eatery, filled with people fleeing the shooting.

“In the last hour and 15 minutes I have seen ambulances from towns up to 30 minutes away rushing towards campus,” he said. “My phone has been on overload because of phone calls, text messages and voicemails, so it has been hard to contact family and friends.

“Everyone has gathered here at Molly’s to keep a close watch on what happens outside of our doors through various news stations and radio. We can only hope for the best for those who have been injured and their families.”

By Alex Johnson and Elizabeth Chuck of msnbc.com. Jeff Black of msnbc.com, Robert Windrem of NBC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23171567/

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