From the NIU web site:
3:50 p.m. CST
Its has been confirmed that there has been a shooting on campus and several people have been taken away by ambulance. All classses are cancelled on the DeKalb campus. People are urged not to come to campus. More information will be posted as it becomes available.
I'm watching ABC 7 Chicago, the regularly programmed news show is dedicating all of its airtime, commerical free, to the shootings.
The shooter, who is believed to have committed suicide, is being described as "a skinny white guy" who shot his victims while they were attending classes in Cole Hall Four students are being treated with gunshot wounds to the head at Kishwaukee Hospital, about 15 victims have been sent there. However, Kishwaukee is not a trauma center.
The spokesman for the DeKalb police says the gunman "is deceased." For a short time, the campus was on lockdown.
UPDATED 5:15PM: CBS 2 Chicago is reporting two additional fatalities.
UPDATE 5:45 PM: The Chicago Sun-Times interviewed NIU student George Gaynor from southwest suburban Homer Glen:
There were about 150 people in the classroom. Gaynor was about 30 rows from the stage toward the back. He was attending Geology 104: Introduction to Ocean Sciences, which is taught by Professor Joseph Peterson.
"The gunman walked through a door on the stage and started shooting toward the students," Gaynor said.
He did not say a word. "He shot one round and I turned around and ran" Gaynor said. "Other people in the room said he fired more rounds."
"The shotgun looked like an assault style shotgun like what a police officer would use," Gaynor said, describing it as a short-barreled gun that the shooter held with two hands. "Not look like what a farmer would carry."
UPDATE 7:00 PM: The Chicago Tribune is reporting five deaths, including the gunman.
UPDATE 8:00 PM: Northern Illinois University's president now says the death toll is six.
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2 comments:
John,
My condolences to the victims and their families.
I dug up the class schedule and from the description given by the student, the shooting occurred near the end of class. GEOL 104 runs from 2-3:15 PM. It also occurred in room 101 of Cole Hall map here
Interestingly, this location (31) is quite close to the visitor's parking lot. Perhaps the murderer selected the first-floor classroom in the nearest lecture hall purely out of convenience.
I'm sorry for the young people who were casualties of this nut case. "Senseless" is not a strong enough word to describe it. Their families must be heartsick.
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