Steven Kazmierczak Identified as Shooter in NIU Violence That Leaves 6 Dead

DEKALB - 6 people died in a shooting rampage on the campus of Northern Illinois University on Thursday. There are 22 people, four of them are listed in critical condition, being treated for injuries sustained after a man entered Northern Illinois University with a shot gun and opened fire. At 8 p.m authorities confirmed that a victim, who was identified as not being the shooter, had died from injuries sustained after being shot late Thursday afternoon. The shooter was identified as 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak, according to UPI.

Northern Illinois Campus police confirmed that Kazmierczak entered Northern Illinois University's Cole Hall auditorium armed with a shotgun and opened fire. There were 162 students in the Earth Sciences class in Cole Hall when the shooting broke out about 3 p.m. The class, being taught by NIU graduate student Joseph Peterson, was about 10 minutes from finishing when a tall white man dressed in dark clothing appeared about 40 feet away from him "just started firing away.''

According other witnesses in the room, the shooter appeared from behind a curtain on the stage in the hall and began shooting starting from the front and continued to fire until he reached the back of the room.

"He must have come from a back door,'' said Peterson. The man had pulled out what appeared to be a shotgun and fired from the stage, Peterson said.
Peterson was being treated for a shoulder wound at Kishwaukee Community Hospital in Rockford.

A Kishwaukee Community Hospital spokesperson has stated that the hospital is treating at least 22 people who were injured in the shooting. Hospital officials said they had received 18 victims, four of them in critical condition. Two of the critically injured were transferred to other hospitals, one to OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, the other to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.

Eight other victims were classified as stable, but Sharon Emanuelson, director of marketing and public relations for the hospital, said there is a chance of a few of them being listed as critical later this evening. "It is touch and go, we have some wounds that could go bad, those listed as stable can easily go to critical in a blink of an eye."

Emanuelson stated that six of the victims are "walking wounded" and expected them to be released sometime Thursday evening.

In Rockford, Mike Robinson, of the public relations department at OSF Saint Anthony, has confirmed that the hospital received two people in critical condition by Lifeline Helicopter. "We were told that there was to be three transfered but the third call was canceled."

Police confirmed that the shooter died from a self-inflicted gun shot wound. Northern Illinois University Police Chief Donald Grady said the gunman had three weapons with him when he started shooting - a shotgun, a Glock handgun and another handgun that police have yet to recover.

The shotgun and the Glock still had ammunition in them when police found them, but police don't know how many shots were fired. It's unknown which weapon he used to kill himself.

The gunman did all the shooting in the Cole lecture hall, and killed himself on the stage of the auditorium-style classroom, Grady said.

Grady said there's no evidence connecting the shootings to threats of violence at NIU last fall, and no threats had been received by police before the shooting.

Amanda Walsh said she was in an English class when word of the shooting came.

"It was certainly very unsettling when we found out that someone was shooting and firing on fellow students," she said. "Everyone was trying to stay quiet and calm, but it was very hard to do knowing that our friends could be dying down the hall."

NIU has posted an announcement that classes are canceled for Friday and are offering counseling for the students on campus.

The following hotlines are available for students and parents:

815-753-1573
815-753-6143
815-753-1574
815-753-1575
815-753-9564
815-753-6257

Counseling is also available on campus for students at the Neptune Dining Hall, Campus Life Building 100 and the Psychological Services Center in the Psychology/Computer Science building.