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Gunman opens fire at N. Illinois U. hall
Associated Press
Thursday, February 14, 2008
DEKALB, Ill. -- A gunman opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, injuring as many as 15 people before he was killed, authorities said. DeKalb Police Lt. Gary Spangler told the student newspaper the Northern Star that the gunman was dead. It was not immediately clear how he died.
The university issued a statement on its Web site about an hour after the 3 p.m. shooting that "the immediate danger has passed. The gunman is no longer a threat."
Kishwaukee Community Hospital said on its Web site it received 13 victims. It said earlier three to four had head wounds.
George Gaynor, a senior geography student, who was in Cole Hall when the shooting happened, told the student newspaper that the shooter was "a skinny white guy with a stocking cap on."
He described the scene immediately following the incident as terrifying and chaotic.
"Some girl got hit in the eye, a guy got hit in the leg," Gaynor said outside just minutes after the shooting occurred. "It was like five minutes before class ended too."
Witnesses said the young man carried a shotgun and a pistol. Student Edward Robinson told WLS-TV in Chicago that the gunman appeared to target students in one part of the lecture hall.
"It was almost like he knew who he wanted to shoot," Robinson said. "He knew who and where he wanted to be firing at."
All classes were canceled Thursday night and the 25,000-student campus was closed on Friday. Students were urged to call their parents "as soon as possible" and were offered counseling at any residence hall, according to the school Web site.
Dominique Broxton, 22, a student from Oak Park, told the Chicago Tribune she could see two wounded students from her dorm room.
"The ambulance took away two students on the ground right outside my dorm," she said. "I don't know them. They looked bloody."
She said she saw a lot of confusion. "Students were running. People really didn't know what was going on. There is an intercom system inside the dorm. Someone came on and stated that someone had been caught. They said they caught the shooter and that we should remain calm and stay in our rooms. I am in my room now."