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February 14, 2008

Five killed as gunman opens fire in Valentine’s Day massacre at US college

Injured student after shooting at Northern Illinois University

Tom Baldwin in Washington

Five people were shot dead and at least 13 injured after a gunman dressed in black opened fire and sprayed bullets around a lecture hall at an Illinois university before killing himself.

The shooter burst from behind a screen during a geology lecture at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb shortly after 3pm and fired on the 160 students using a shotgun and two handguns.

Students frantically scrambled over desks for cover as about 30 rounds were fired across the hall.

University authorities said that the gunman, who has been identified as a student, but not from the university, then turned the gun on himself. Campus police refused to release his name. The incident took place in Cole Hall near the King Commons, a central meeting point on the 25,000student campus.

George Gaynor, a geography student, who was in the class, said that the gunman was “a skinny white guy with a stocking cap on”. He said that it was a chaotic, terrifying scene.

“Some girl got hit in the eye, a guy got hit in the leg,” Mr Gaynor said outside minutes after the shooting occurred. “It was like five minutes before class ended.”

The gunman was said to have been calm as he shot at the students. Some reports claimed that he may have had particular targets. Edward Robinson, another student, said that he seemed to concentrate on one part of the lecture hall. “It was almost like he knew who he wanted to shoot,” Mr Robinson said. “He knew who and where he wanted to be firing at.”

Zach Seward, also a geology student, was near Joe Peterson, a teaching assistant who was injured, when the attack began. “As I was running, I just kept waiting for something to hit me in the back,” he told reporters. “The TA [teaching assistant] looks like half his scalp was gone,” Mr Seward said. “I think I saw him on a stretcher.”

The Kishwaukee Community Hospital received 18 victims — four critical with head wounds — yesterday afternoon. Two were later airlifted to Rockford Memorial Hospital.

The university appeared to have learnt lessons from last year’s Virginia Tech massacre, when Cho Seung Hui went on a rampage killing 32 people before committing suicide — the deadliest school killing in US history.

Within minutes of the first of yesterday’s gunshots, the university had locked down the campus and informed students of the security situation using the intranet and text messages. Police said that they had officers on the scene in less than three minutes.

Mike Digiannantonio was in a campus bus passing Cole Hall around 3.15pm and saw dozens of people racing from the building. “People were saying, ‘Go, go, go, let’s get out of here’.” Linda Stoklasa, 20, said that she also saw students running and screaming, as well as two being treated for wounds outside her dorm. “One kid was bleeding, one girl couldn’t walk.” Fleeing students had told her, “Someone has a gun!”, she said, adding: “I was scared. I was really scared.”

There had been concerns late last year that NIU, about 65 miles west of Chicago, was a possible target for a campus shooting. The university was closed for a day during final exam week in December after police found threats, including racial slurs and references to the shootings at Virginia Tech, scrawled on a bathroom wall. The site was later reopened after an investigation decided that there was no imminent threat.

Yesterday’s shooting is the latest in a string of such incidents to hit American society in the past year. In December Christmas shoppers at a department store in Omaha, Nebraska, fled in terror as a gunman opened fire from a balcony, killing eight people and wounding five before turning the gun on himself. In October six young people were killed by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy at a house party in Crandon, Wisconsin.

Supporters of the American gun lobby have claimed that the Virginia Tech shootings could have been prevented had there been fewer restrictions on firearm ownership.

Newt Gingrich, the Republican former Speaker of the House of Representatives, has claimed that citizens who carry weapons deter would-be shooters. Others have compared the 14,000 people killed by guns in America in 2005 with the total of 50 firearms deaths in England and Wales — which have some of the tightest firearms laws — during that period.

Another gun tragedy and trauma and the usual responses from gun advocates. This shooting was all about them, and not a moment to express any sorrow before launching into an assertion of their rights. You are heartless and responsible for this and other similar traumas because of your selfish, senseless insistence on the unfettered access and sale of firearms.

Graham, New York, NY, USA

Let's not hear any of this "how terrible, how tragic, how can this be stopped". It's not going to be stopped, Americans don't want it stopped.

You don't believe it? Americans lived in fear of Indians, they live in fear of Iraqis and they live in fear of each other. That's the way they want to live - and they're not going to change. The only people who hate them in return, almost the only people ever to have expelled them, are the Saudis, the ones who actually committed 911.

Andy Dyer, London, UK,

America is a violent society. The media exploitation only serves to glorify it. Keith, you're right, it is our mindset.

I recall in '94 watching as what seemed a few hardened thugs in a neighborhood far away became lawless. Due to the local news media reporting 'live" and with tremendous enthusiasm the lack of police response, I watched as my city started burning. Within hours I watched the mall on the corner being looted and burned. I watched as another mall a block away, and the apartment attached to it, was looted and burned. I also watched as three carloads of looters approached the stores attached to my apartment building with myself and three friends standing in front with guns, they moved on. I'm convinced that had we not had our guns, we would have been homeless that afternoon.

If I thought giving up the guns I own would prevent events like these, I would do it gladly. Guns aren't the problem, it's our mentality. I wish I was wise enough to have the answer

Bill, Los Angeles, USA

Would this have been regarded an act of terrorism if the gunman was muslim??

M Byfied, London,

I hope the gun advocates are happy.

Jeff, Sacramento / CA, USA

speechless...
hope japan would never suffer such a sick disaster forever.
may god bless japan!

meijiDiva, tokyo,

I don't care if Europeans can't understand why we hold the right to bear arms so dearly. Laugh, judge, and scorn all you want. I'm not responsible for trying to explain it to you. Myself and millions of other Americans will fight and die for that right, no matter how many school shootings there are. And its NOT because we don't care about our children.

Matt, Texas, USA

I read in another article that giving guns to everyone "will deter people from doing this kind of thing" Sorry..? so if everyone has a gun the mentally unstable suddenly become stable again..?
This will always be a fierce debate and in the meantime more people die..God Bless them and may they RIP

andrew, southampton,

Damian - you are right that America has a higher crime rate then England. However, the number of annual gun crimes in England has increased almost 4 fold since 1998. Look it up if you don't believe me.

Matt, Texas, USA

I find it odd that the claim of a lot of the pro-gun comments on here are relating the right to bear arms to God... Does this seem strange to anyone else? Kirk says the right to bear arms is a God given right... sorry but isn't it a right given to you by your leaders from a couple centuries or so ago and not God? Leaders who lived in a very different world where protection from others and potential invaders was an actual concern? God, as I seem to remember from RE lessons at school, does in no way condone the killing of any man. America is backwards in so many ways it is actually terrifying to me that they are the "leaders" of the modern world. Mary mentions our gun laws being in place when Dunblane happened, do your research Mary, our gun laws were tightened BECAUSE of Dunblane, because unlike in America our leaders (then at least) were prepared to progress into the modern world. Try to remember that you are no longer frontier warriors and are instead a supposedly civillised nation.

dom, Leeds, England

Honestly, it's about time that something is done about this. As a student, I should not have to worry about going to class. This is absurd and disgusting, our government or something needs to step in and come up with a plan to limit these occurences, between the mall shooting, Virginia Tech, now this and many others, why don't we do something. I don't care if it is stricter gun laws or what (certainly not putting more guns in people's hands, that will not solve anything), but SOMETHING needs to be done!

Stefanie, Mifflinburg,

The kneejerk reaction is to take away all firearms, but that would only disarm the law-abiding population. The criminal element would still obtain guns and the mentally unbalanced would still kill.

Stricter gun laws would not have prevented this particular incident in my opinion as the guy was 27 and had nothing in his background to stop the purchase.

These events are sensational, but I would guess that the majority of the yearly gun deaths are not massacres by the enraged/deranged, but are the result of the widespread criminal activity operating within the US. This country is not an island and the naive pipedream of disarming the populace and controlling firearms entering its borders is sadly laughable.

Mark, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana

People outside the US look with horror to that new type of crime which is now happening there. How Is it possible that the supporters of free selling of guns and bullets don't understand the difference that exists between the number of firearms deaths in the US and those in Europe? The responsibility lies on the successive governments, on the political right, on the manufacturers and sellers of weapons, on the free market idolatry, and on the kind of historical mentality which still prevails in a big part of the american society. The Hollywood cowboys paradigm, the mafia gangs, the supporters of individual freedom at all costs, etc. If that goes on, if that continues... the criminals and the mentally perturbed people will also go on killing innocent people. Is that democracy? No, it is pure barbarity.

Mario Cesar, Alfragide, Portugal

I hate to say this, but such shootings are becoming such common place here that it no longer shocks me. The frequency of such incidents is directly correlated to the type of gun control laws employed. The more lax the laws, the more common these incidents will be.

Yes, it is true that no matter how strict the gun control laws are, these tragedies will occur. With stricter laws, however, they will undoubtedly occur less frequent. The individuals that argue guns are a god given right under the 2nd amendment are ridiculous.

The US Constitution was written in the 1700s. At that time, the guns used were black powdered rifles, flintlock pistols and muskets. Also, the US was coming off a war on its own soil. Today's guns are distant cousins to their ancient counterparts. I would hope that we have enough foresight to realize that not everything our fore fathers determined to be necessary in the 1700s remains necessary today. Unfortunately, I am not hopeful.

Eugene, Milwaukee, WI

Yes, the gun laws in this country aren't tough enough. A lot of us here feel little is done to change that fact. Some gun owners believe that the second amendment gives them this right, it doesn't really, since it was written for the Militia before we had a standing army. It bothers me how some distort our constitution for their benifit, with little regard for others.

For those who say it's a school shootings are a normal occurrence (they're not), please check out this link about 10 myths about school shootings:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15111438/
especially point #10 "'School shootings are rampant': It may seem so, with media attention focused on a spate of school shootings. In fact, school shootings are extremely rare. Even including the more common violence that is gang-related or dispute-related, only 12 to 20 homicides a year occur in the 100,000 schools in the U.S. In general, school assault and other violence have dropped by nearly half in the past decade"

AJ, California, US

I cannot see how more stringent gun laws will take the present arsenal off the streets. It would take decades to do that. However the gun lobbies answer of arming everyone is a little too scary. You are asking your citizens to affectively police society. Its an accident waiting to happen.

It sounds a bit defeatist but I'm afraid the USA will probably just have to accept this type of incident as symptom of their heritage.

NIX, Wirral, England

same old same old. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I simple don't care anymore this happens so often. How many more innocent people will have to get brutally murdered before Americans appreciate, as most of the rest of the civilised world already have, the direct correlation between levels of gun ownership and levels of gun death!?

Dave, Stowmarket, UK

Mary Mayne - so you remember Dunblane, March 13th, do you? That was in 1996. I couldn't tell you the names of most school shootings in America because since then there have, tragically, been far too many to remember. There have been 5 in the last week in the states. It absolutely boggles the mind that any American can seek to justify guns when your children are dying.

And - God given right? Please. So a man in the sky is telling you it's OK to carry guns now? That's really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Lucie, London, UK

This is indeed calamitous. And a part of us died there.
It is time to introspect and give up the American attachment to the "frontier ethic" and the law of the gun which helped the Europeans to exterminate and dispossess the indigenous people.. It has no place in a modern civilized society like the US.

Acharya, Bangalore, India

Same old story, fed with reading about it. Either sort out your laws on gun ownership or put up with this happening on a regular basis,im sorry to say its not news anymore. My sympathies are with the bereaved and injured

30,000 dead isindefensible and gun ownership is morally wrong unless for a specific purpose such as licensed deer culling. Change your laws if not the constitutuion, take guns out of the individuals hands (will take one hell of a long time after a 200 yaer tradition) and eventually the death toll will subside. Meanwhile 30,000 last year..................................

Darrin, Guildford,

Two hundred million American gun owners didn't kill anyone yesterday.

PJ, Frankfort, Maine, USA

You dont need everyone to own a gun to feel safe you need laws preventing people having guns in the first place. How many time will America have to learn the same bloody lesson before they stamp out the stupidity advocated by the gun lobby.

Luke Espley, Bristol, UK

"The only way to stop a shooter is to shoot him"

Classic.

Or, don't let him get a gun? If it is accepted that someone who does this is likely to be a bit "off" mentally and probably acts on a whim, it should be agreed that making it as difficult as possible for him to get a gun is sensible, cos on the day he wakes up and thinks "I'm going to shoot some people" - his next thought will be "damn I don't have a gun - i'll do something else instead".

After Dunblane - we tightened our gun laws by the way. We have less incidents of gun crime than the America. Pretty much everyone does.

Causal link? Possibly? Can't see it? Not even maybe?

I see the logic of lots of guns. Imagine a foreign army trying to invade Texas or LA! No chance.

Thing is, no-one is ever going to invade - no Reds under the bed anymore. You have security against a non-existent threat at the expense of creating genuine threats within.

You'll get there eventually. I have every confidence in you.

Damian, Manchester,

I find it really strange that some people can't accept the simple fact that if individuals have easy access to guns then these sad types of events will always happen. If the access is restricted or made much tougher as in the UK then this type of event won't occcur as often.

The gun culture in the US has to change.....

Mark, Leicester UK,

Firstly my thoughts go out to the people that have lost loved ones in the tragic event.

Secondly, going on the comment made by Mary Mayne, yes the UK did have Dunblane and the event was so horrific that we have done something about it. We stopped 'normal' people owning guns, so don't throw that in people's faces. My family knew the teacher who was killed.

Yes there are guns on the streets in the UK and it is done through the criminal world. I believe that the reason why it isn't getting into the main stream is because of the laws against us carrying weapons. How can you possibly think that by carrying a gun you are going to solve this? Its just so awful and scary. I can imagine that the numbers of people going to university will follow if you have to think about things like this?

This needs to stop and the only way is the limit the amount of guns available to the common person. How can you even think of carrying a gun? Its awful.

Anon , Manchester ,

Doo be quiet Kirk.

fsdgd, London,

This is for Kirk and mary.... In 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available, an average of about 81 people died every from gunfire in the united states. All in all 30,000 died that year by fire arms, another 65,000 were injured. Let me repeat that..... 30,000 DEAD!!!!!!
I can't begin to imagine how you can even start to defend that without embarrassing yourselves.

Sands, London,

Honestly, why is anyone surprised anymore when this happens? There have been enough similar events to prove that the laws in the US will NOT change, so we should EXPECT that deadly shooting sprees will continue to happen, again and again.

The politicians are simply too weak, and the emphasis - as always - is on 'rights' over responsibilities.

I'm an American by birth but am eternally thankful that I was able to move to Europe. I'm not saying things are problem-free here, but it's a hell of a lot more civilised.

nevergoingback, London,

VERY GOOD, Kirk Smith from Sanford-North Carolina: "Our founder's understood that evil transcends time . . . The Second Amendment is an individual GOD given right!"
In other words "Gun'em all and let Gun sort'em out" ?

Advice to travelers: better avoid travelling through Sanford-North Carolina...

Ronnie, PARIS , FRANCE

Hate to point this out to you Kirk, but so far all mass gun shootings in the US have had nothing to do with 'Muslim mass murderers' - try looking a little closer to your 'Christian' brethren.

Simple truth is that murder has nothing to do with any faith, it is to do with the unjust - and the unjust can be found everywhere irrespective of creed or colour.

Farrukh, Woking, UK

What a selfish selfish act - may the victims RIP !!!

Ian Payne, Walsall,

This happened only in Usa, cow-boy time has passed
It need a strict restriction about guns otherwise in a mounth will happen again

Venanzio, Venice, Italy

I cant decide which argument is more ridiculous. The one that says 'the only way to stop a shooter is to shoot him' so give everyone guns or the one that blames libs teaching evolution and a lack of fear in god.
The real culptit is the American mind set. The love of the Holywood style lone gunman. The him against the world, go out with a bang, that'll teach em attitude. Anyone who feels wronged or mistreated by society has a chance to show the world just how unfair its all been by going on a rampage.
That is the attitude that has to change for this to stop.

Keith , Canberra, Australia

You Americans beggar belief: somehow you think the answer to gun crime is... MORE GUNS?!?!?

The reason you have so much more gun crime in the USA than any other developed country is that guns and ammunition are available to buy.

If you don't get that simple connection by now then you will continue to suffer the thousands of gun-murders that plague your country every year.

Joe, Madrid,

Let's see. . . Illinois has some of the toughest gun laws in the central United States, so much so that they do not allow law-adbiding citizens the right to carry concealed. Every place that publically proclaims "gun free zone" allows those with evil intent to enjoy a "target rich environment" without any form of resistance. Simply posting a NO GUNS sign tells "stupid people" that criminals, muslim mass murderers and the mentally deranged actually obey the law! Our founder's understood that evil transcends time . . . The Second Amendment is an individual GOD given right! When man puts himself above GOD, as did Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot et al, literally we have hell on earth and millions are slaughtered!

Kirk Smith, Sanford, North Carolina

Before the :gun control" libs start - let me state one fact - the only way to stop a shooter is to shot him!

UK has one of the toughest gun laws in the world - hasnt stopped shootings there has it? I remember March 13th - Dunblane!

When libs stop telling our kids that they are just of a group of carbon atoms - that they dont have a purpose - just an accident of nature......then maybe kids will have a sense of destiny and a future. Libs have been telling our kids from the moment they set foot inside schools that the came from nothing, will end up as nothing and then they wonder why kids do this!

mary mayne, LA, California

Does anyone believe that a person set on killing students in a class room would not because gun laws are against carrying on campus

Stan, Anderson, In.

I'm sorry your viewpoints are so simplistic, sophie, for you do not understand. Drugs are smuggled into our country everyday, much of which through our porous borders. Drugs are illegal here, but does that stop their import?

If you make laws to take away our guns, who are you taking those gun away from? The criminals? I think not. If our protection is taken away from us, the criminals know there is no stopping them now.

Chris Long, Elgin, Illinois

Even if it does happen, it's way to late, but it's clear the laws need to be changed.
I'm supposed to be studying in an American university for a semester next year. I'm genuinely reconsidering. It's just too frequent an occurance.
A tragic event, my thoughts are with those poor people.

Henry Hunter, London,

Americans don't learn - that the gun lobby is all about money and people buying guns who have nothing better to do than hunt animals. And hunt people. And shoot at tin cans and frisbees thrown in the air.

"Right to Bear Arms" - against foreign invaders.

American gov has a fear of political correctness and a letting go of our "freedoms". There is no freedom anymore for the citizens. We can't leave our homes. Sue gun manufacturers
for every injury and death. Hold parents responsible, and house searches for illegal firearms and guns not safely locked up. GROW UP, idiot society.

Odin, Pleasantville, NY USA

"The gunman was said to have been calm as he shot at the students."

Of course he was calm. He knew no one could stop him. Gun free zone=Free Fire Zone

r. burns, Tampa, Fl

I guess Americans will never learn. They simply are in love with guns, and probably the more of these happening, the more they want guns. It is absurd and scary.

MK, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

America needs tougher gun laws. But the ever-powerful gun lobby will do everything possible to prevent such legislation. How sad, and what a troubling commentary on our society.

Mike, Chicago, USA

Another one? What is wrong with us?

F Rahim, Toronto, Canada

Apparently no one remembers the school shooting threat that closed down the very same university in December 07.
I am from DeKalb, I go to NIU, my father is a professor there, I can hear the helicopters from my apartment.
It's ridiculous that we even have to think about what to do if there's a school shooting. This is absurd.

Emily, DeKalb, Illinois

Do the parents who have lost their children own a gun?. Do they think their guns protect them? When will the Americans come to their senses and realise that gun ownership will always lead to more innocent people getting killed. What a waste of young lives.

sophie, london,

Will it ever stop? Sad, but I'm not even surprised when I see the head line "U.S Reeling After Mass Shooting Leaves ___ Dead." The last thing students should have to worry about is a gun man barging through the class room doors with an assault weapon during class...

Bryant, Anacortes, Washington

Horrific tragedy.

Dan, Miami, FL