Shooting at Northern Illinois University, 5 Killed

UPDATE: Local news reports 5 killed.

Some breaking news. Reportedly, more than a dozen people are shot and up to five people are killed after a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University. The school is about an hour northwest of Chicago in DeKalb, Illinois and CLTV News reports more than a dozen may be injured. This is the third school shooting this week.

The gunman has been also shot dead, but, no confirmation on who shot him, or, did he take his own life.

Earlier this afternoon, the school posted a warning on its Web site at 3:20 that stated: "There has been a report of a possible gunman on campus. Get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all clear. Avoid the King Commons and all buildings in that vicinity." The school is off lockdown and classes have been canceled for the rest of the day.

Twenty-year old Dominique Broxton, a student from suburban Chicago, says she could see two wounded students from her dorm room. "I 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."

This is the third school shooting this week. On Tuesday, a 15-year-old openly gay high school student in Ventura County, California was shot in the head and the back. PageOneQ reports the student "was harassed on a regular basis. He had been involved in an argument with a group of boys that included his alleged shooter, who is said by a witness to have specifically threatened him." The teen has been declared brain dead and will likely be removed from life support pending organ donations. The shooter "faces a first-degree murder charge, likely as an adult; it will be tried as a hate crime."

Also on Tuesday, a high school student was shot outside a school in DeKalb Co. Georgia, outside Atlanta.

5 Dead a NIU Shooting [Sun Times]
NIU Says Several People Taken in Ambulance [WBBM]
Several People Injured [Chgo Tribune]
Gay Teen Shot, Brain Dead [PageOneQ]

Comments

[Jim]

I hadn't read about poor Lawrence King, the boy from Ventura County. From the report on his murder:

King was said to have sometimes worn makeup and feminine jewelry. Said classmate Michael Sweeney, "He would come to school in high-heeled boots, makeup, jewelry and painted nails -- the whole thing. That was freaking the guys out."

Why is it that straight boys are such frightened sissies?