On Thursday afternoon a man opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University (NIU) wounding several students; according to the police, the gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot at the scene.
NIU officials confirmed on Friday morning that there were six fatalities from the shooting, including the gunman. Four of the dead were female and two, including the gunman, were male. In total, there were 22 injured or killed.
An earlier report incorrectly stated that there were seven fatalities to the shooting.
Eighteen patients were brought to the Kishwaukee Community Hospital, according to the hospital’s Web site and school officials.
Of those, eight have already been discharged; seven patients listed in critical condition were transfered to other regional hospitals. One patient, a 22-year-old male, died at the hospital.
All of the wounds were either from the shooting or from debris.
NIU officals confirm that the shooter was 27-year-old Stephen Kazmierczak, an NIU graduate student in sociology in the Spring of 2007 but was not currently enrolled.
NIU officials also released the names of those students who had been killed; all were from Illinois and the exception of one 32-year-old student, all were either 19 or 20-years-old.
At a press conference held on NIU’s campus Thursday evening, NIU President John Peters said, “Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. We thank the community for the outpouring of sympathy during this terrible time of tragedy.”
The Associated Press reports that witnesses said the young man carried a shotgun and a pistol, and that he appeared to be targeting students in part of the lecture hall.
Immediately after news of the event spread, school officials posted alerts to the school’s Web site warning people not to come to campus and confirming that several people had been transported to the hospital.
“Campus police reiterate that an immediate danger has passed,” stated an update to the Web site at 4:24 p.m. “Students should return to their residence halls and stay there.”
All NIU classes were canceled for Thursday night and Friday.
According to school officials the shooting occurred in Cole Hall near the King Commons; it is believed that the shooting occurred inside an ocean sciences lecture.
NIU has 25,000 students and is located about 65 miles west of Chicago. The shooting was the fourth at a U.S. school within a week.
In an email to the Washington University student body, Chancellor Mark Wrighton expressed his condolences to the students, families and faculty of NIU. Wrighton also reminded students about the University ClearTxt emergency messaging system.
-by Sam Guzik and David Brody