Webloggin » Update:Sixth victim dies overnight - 6 Dead After Massive Shooting at Northern Illinois University

Final Update: A sixth victim died overnight in the NIU massacre. Neither the police or the media are releasing the identity of the shooter for some unknown reason even though the Chicago Sun Times is making references to his web site postings.

The man believed to be the gunman in the Northern Illinois University shootings was a distinguished student in the university’s sociology department, earning at least two top awards before leaving the school last spring.

He was also an officer in a campus student government organization.

In a recent posting on an Internet site, he wrote about his interest in getting elected to a national association, saying he was committed to social justice.

In a scholarly paper he co-authored two years ago, the man described himself as being interested in social justice, corrections, political violence and peace.

Kay Forest, chairwoman of NIU’s sociology department, did not know of the man’s connection to Thursday’s rampage. But she did say the man was enrolled in her department last spring and had left, although she did not know where he went.

She said one of the awards he won is only given to “really good students.”

It’s odd that neither the newspapers are identifying the student. This person sounds connected.

According to the Chicago Tribune he was currently registered at the University of Illinois Champaign campus as a grad student.

The Tribune is not naming the gunman because police have not officially completed the identification of his body.

The gunman also served as vice president of the Academic Criminal Justice Association chapter at NIU.

The student group aims to educate the DeKalb community “about and promote knowledge and understanding of all areas of the criminal justice system, especially corrections and juvenile justice,” according to its Web site.

The organization’s current president worked on a paper with the shooter and Thomas dealing with self-injury in prison.

School officials say the gunman was enrolled at NIU in Spring 2007, but left to attend graduate school at another state university. According to the U. of I., the shooter was a graduate student in the school of social work.

The gunman grew up in Elk Grove Village, but records show his parents moved to Florida shortly before his mother’s death in 2004.

WGN News Video

Update: The latest update is that a fifth victim has died from her wounds. In all 4 girls and one boy was killed by the deranged killer. Reports indicate that the shooter used a shotgun and two handguns, one of which was a Glock pistol. The police found many spent magazines and both pistols with plenty of ammunition remaining. There is no motive for the shooting. The other 14 victims are reported as being in stable or good condition.

I have been listening in to the police briefing and not much more information is coming out. Eyewitness accounts are actually giving us a little better picture:

What we do know as of this moment:

The shooter turned the gun on himself. He has been ID’d but remains unnamed. The gunman was not a student on campus.
The shootings happened in Cole hall. The gunman entered an Intro to Ocean Sciences class. Eyewitnesses are reporting that he emerged from behind the screen on stage and just started shooting.
George Gainer, a 23 year old student in the classroom at the time appeared on ABC 7 News in Chicago and said the shooter entered through a service door and just started shooting without saying a word. Gainer described the shooter as a skinny white guy wearing jeans and a gray teeshirt which is a bit different than other descriptions I had heard. He said the shooter had a white knit cap without a ski mask as had been reported by others.
18 People are confirmed injured by bullet wounds.

I also note that NBC 5 in Chicago is repeatedly showing a loop of one of the victims being carted to an ambulance, complete with a closeup of her face. It was shot by a student on his cell phone. Did it possibly occur to NBC that perhaps the parents might not even know that their daughter has been shot? Not sure why they would show her face even if it was a crappy video (or perhaps especially so). These guys are complete asses.

Another observation, one that we hear often in these incidents is that many students didn’t think the shooting was real at first. It’s hard to believe that this kind of evil would be happening.

A gunman stormed onto the Northern Illinois University campus this afternoon and shot between 13 and 15 students. the shooter is reported to be dead but it is not clear how he died as of this moment. No deaths have been reported but hospital spokespeople have said they have received several people with injuries to the head.

The NIU website confirmed the report at 3:50 p.m. this afternoon.

3:50 p.m.

It has been confirmed that there has been a shooting on campus and several people have been taken away by ambulance. All NIU campuses are closed and classes are cancelled for tonight and tomorrow (2/15/08) on the DeKalb campus. People are urged not to come to campus. More information will be posted as it becomes available.

The Dekalb Daily Chronicle picked the story up on a police scanner.

DeKALB - Several people have been shot at Northern Illinois University, according to information heard Thursday afternoon over a police scanner and from eyewitness reports.

Reports have said the shooter is down. Northern Illinois University police say a gunman who opened fire inside a lecture hall, injuring several people, is “no longer a threat” and “the immediate danger has passed,” according to The Associated Press.

Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb said they were treating at least 13 people from the shooting, with three to four having head wounds. Students are praying and many are on cell phones or crying. Phone lines in DeKalb reportedly were jammed by 4 p.m.

Shortly before 3 p.m., one shooter went into Northern Illinois University’s Cole Hall auditorium armed with a shotgun and opened fire at random, according to witnesses at the scene. There reportedly were as many as five possible victims.

Around the same time, calls started coming over a police scanner about a white, male shooter with a shotgun and pistol.

As of 3:45 p.m., two shooting victims were being tended to at nearby Neptune Hall, a student residence hall. Shortly before 4 p.m., another victim was pulled out of Cole Hall, according to eyewitness reports. The northern door to Cole Hall was smashed, according to eyewitness reports.

Police have established a perimeter around Cole Hall, and 15-20 emergency vehicles were in the area.

A Daily Chronicle photographer on the scene reported five people have going by on stretchers. Blood was apparent and obvious, the photographer said.

At least two people are reported down in DuSable Hall, and one person was shot in the head, according to eyewitness reports. It could not be confirmed if it was from a gunshot.

Authorities have not released the identity of the shooter.

See Also: Hot Air, Stop The ACLU, Wizbang