Updated Feb. 15, 12:26 p.m.Six people are confirmed dead after a gunman opened fire on a classroom at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill. Thursday afternoon. The gunman has been identified as Steven Phillip Kazmierczak, 27, of Champagne, Ill. Kazmierczak was a former graduate student in sociology.
He shot 21 people before shooting himself Thursday.
Today, the NIU student newspaper, the Northern Star, reported the name of the gunman, as well as four of the victims.
DeKalb County Coroner Dennis Miller identified the victims as Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester, Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero, Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville, and Julianna Gehant, 32, of Meriden.
According to a CNN report, a hospital spokesperson said most of the victims were shot in the head.
The Kishwaukee Community Hospital, located about 10 minutes away from the campus, said it admitted 18 people who were victims of the attack.
NIU said police found the gunman dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police at the press conference said they found 48 cases and six shotgun shells.
According to NIU Police Chief Don Grady, all police officers are trained as EMTs and began to treat victims before other emergency personnel arrived on scene.
Grady said two police officers arrived on scene 29 seconds after the 3:05 p.m. central time shooting, with eight others arriving only a minute and a half later.
“Nothing of this magnitude gets addressed by a single agency and a single effort,” he said. “It has to be a collaborative effort.”
But the shooting rampage had concluded before officers could get into the building.
According to Grady, it was unfortunate that this happened and officers could not have done anything else, but the university’s emergency plan, which all groups involved had assessed and practiced after the Virginia Tech shooting, was carried out.
“The response to these things and recovery are critical,” he said.
The university was locked down at 3:07 p.m. Thursday and NIU President John Peters said the university issued an “all-campus alert” at 3:20 p.m., and officials contacted students about the threat using the Web, e-mail, voicemail, a crisis hot line and an alarm system.
NIU is shut down Friday while NIU campus police continues its investigation, which Peters said may take some time.
“We have many, many assets on campus,” Peters said in a press conference Thursday. “We anticipate them being on campus for a while.”
The shooter, who Peters said was dressed in dark clothing, opened fire on a classroom in Cole Hall. He used a shotgun and two handguns, shooting at students and the lecturer before he turned one of the weapons on himself.
According to Grady, the shooter was seen outside the building, but he had a coat on covering the belt with his gun and ammunition and he had another gun in a guitar case he was carrying.
Authorities have not yet discovered a motive and police still have his car in custody. Grady said there has been no indication that the shooter did any talking during the incident.
“We don’t know when he may or may have not driven over to campus,” Grady said.
But police said after talking to family members and those close to the shooter, they found out Kazmierczak had been taking medication and then stopped. For the few weeks he had stopped, he became “erratic.” They did not cite what the medication was for.
However, Grady said in Friday morning’s press conference, that there was nothing preventing Kazmierczak from buying guns.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich declared a state of emergency because of the shootings, opening his office’s disaster relief fund, according to a press release. That will help local emergency personnel pay for the response to the shooting.
The university is located 55 miles west of Chicago and has an enrollment of about 25,000 students.
In December, the NIU campus closed down after graffiti was discovered in a campus residence hall bathroom. Peters said in a letter posted on the university’s Web site that the message contained a “credible threat against the NIU community,” and Reuters reported that the graffiti threat included a reference to the Virginia Tech shootings in April. NIU opened after a day under heightened security and students resumed exams, the Reuters article said.
In the press conference this morning, Grady said police determined it to have no substance nor have they found any connection between it and the incident. Invetsigations are ongoing for both.
There are six phone hot lines available at NIU for students and parents, the numbers for which were posted on the campus alert Web page at 4:10 p.m. central time. NIU is also offering Counseling services in the campus residence halls.
Be sure to keep checking technicianonline.com for continuing updates on this developing story.
