Last updated: 15/02/2008
Six dead in campus shooting

Six students have been killed after a lone gunman opened fire at a university in Chicago.

Another 15 people were injured in the attack before the gunman turned the gun on himself. Police said there was no apparent motive.

Students ran for cover after the gunman, a former student of the university and dressed in all black, stepped from behind a curtain in a science lecture and opened fire at Northern Illinois University on Valentines Day.

Two weapons have been recovered and police are searching for a third firearm in Cole Hall near the King Commons, a central gathering place for the 25,000 students on campus.

University president John Peters said that the victims, four women and a man were killed in a ‘brief, rapid-fire assault.’

Police have identified the killer as former Northern Illinois University student Stephen Kazmierczak.

Head of police at the university, Don Grady, said Kazmierczak had studied sociology there in 2007.

Chief Grady said it was not known why Kazmierczak - who was armed with three handguns and a shotgun - opened fire.

This latest shooting comes just 10 month after the horrific attack at Virginia Tech University where 32 students and staff were shot in one of the worst campus shootings in history.

It is also the fourth shooting at a US education establishment within a week.

A woman shot dead to fellow students before killing herself at Louisiana Technical College last Friday. Two more shootings have been recorded at high schools in the last 7 days.

Students described the frantic rush to clear the lecture theatre after the Kazmierczak opened fire.

"I kept thinking, 'Oh God, he's going to shoot me. Oh God, I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead'," Desiree Smith, a student who dropped to the floor near the back of the auditorium, told AP news agency.

"People were crawling on each other, trampling each other," she said. "As I got near the door, I got up and I started running."

Talking to local radio station WBBM a student named Sheila said that the Kazmierczak was quiet as he turned his weapons on the students.

"He just stood on the stage in front of everybody and just started shooting," she said.

"I saw a lot of blood. I have blood all over my clothes."
George Gaynor, a senior geography student, speaking before Kazmierczak was named told the student newspaper Northern Star that the gunman 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," he said.

Within minutes students warned each other of the shootings and the university’s website issued alerts warning of the possibility of a gunman on campus.

"Get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all clear," it warned students.

The site then carried updates confirming the shooting and telling students to stay away or stay in doors. It then said the gunman was "no longer a threat".

Emergency hotlines and counselling are being offered for students and parents.

Mr Peters urged students to remain calm and support each other.

"We've asked them to reach out to each other during this difficult time, and they've done that, and I'm proud of them."

On the evening of the shooting students and staff held candle-light vigils for the victims and many tributes have appeared online. A Facebook group called ‘Pray for Northern Illinois University Students and Families’ had 31,023 members this morning.