Northern Illinois University releases report on 2008 shooting

[scandal 951]

Another perspective for the gun-debate on VJ.

What if we had very strict gun control laws, such that a person with mental illness could not obtain one. If Kazmierczak was never able to obtain a gun, would this tragedy have happened?

Alternatively, if the students in the lecture hall he shot up were all armed, might he have been brought down more quickly with fewer lives lost?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-niu-shooting-report-20100318,0,6518181,full.story

NIU probes motives, response to 2008 shootings

Report speculates mentally ill gunman wanted to punish ‘surrogate family’

By Jodi S. Cohen, Tribune reporters

8:37 a.m. CDT, March 19, 2010

Steven Kazmierczak wanted infamy. He wanted video game-style bloodshed. And perhaps most of all, he wanted to punish Northern Illinois University, the "surrogate family" that had kept his demons at bay but that he felt ultimately abandoned him.

In the 18 months leading up to his lecture hall massacre, Kazmierczak's mother died, he lost his job as a corrections officer and he became angry because he believed NIU had de-emphasized his graduate program, leading him to transfer to another university, according to a 300-page report released by the university Thursday.

It concludes that those events and others sent him into a tailspin and spurred the violent return of a mental illness that had been in remission while he was an NIU undergraduate. Kazmierczak, who had fantasized about the destruction of himself and others, took his anger to campus on Valentine's Day 2008, killing five students and wounding 21 people.

The report is, in part, the university's attempt to explain why Kazmierczak — wearing a black T-shirt with the word "Terrorist" printed over a picture of an assault rifle across the chest — returned to his alma mater, kicked in the door to a lecture hall stage and shot dozens of rounds into the auditorium.

Less than seven minutes into his ambush, he turned the gun on himself.

For Kazmierczak, it was the ending he wanted. For NIU, it was the beginning of a quest to explain the inexplicable.

A newly released psychological profile contained in the report suggests that everything about the attack signified something in Kazmierczak's troubled mind: the location, the date, the victims.

The report offers the most detailed account to date of Kazmierczak's troubled life, including repeated suicide attempts that required hospitalization, unresolved conflicts with his parents stemming from their decision to institutionalize him and interest in satanic rituals.

It also summarizes lessons the university learned in responding to the crisis, and includes transcripts of the first hour of police radio traffic beginning at 3:06 p.m. with a 911 call. There were a dizzying 200 communications in the first hour, including this one at 3:11 p.m.: "Shooter's down. Shotgun's secure. We need an ambulance and the coroner at Cole Hall."

Killed were sophomore Gayle Dubowski, an anthropology major involved with her church; sophomore Catalina Garcia, active with the campus' Latino Resource Center; junior Julianna Gehant, who had served in the Army; sophomore Ryanne Mace, an honors student who planned to work in counseling; and sophomore Daniel Parmenter, who tried to shield his girlfriend.

The 27-page profile of Kazmierczak, written by an independent psychologist hired by NIU for about $10,000, states that the shooter had been diagnosed as a teenager with schizoaffective disorder, a disabling mental illness characterized by a combination of schizophrenia and a mood disorder such as manic-depression.

The profile suggests he increased the difficulty of his shooting spree as if it were one of his beloved video games. When he had emptied the shotgun and walked down into the audience with his handguns, he fired at only those who ran or ducked. Those who sat frozen in their seats, the easiest targets, were ignored.

Kazmierczak, 27, made it difficult for investigators to identify a motive. He didn't leave a suicide note. The hard drive of his computer has never been found. He tossed out his cell phone's memory card.

NIU President John Peters calls the explanations "plausible but speculative."

"The psychologist did a very good job of trying to squeeze every drop of understanding out of the record that we had and tried to bring a plausible explanation," Peters said. "The ‘why' question is there, and it will always be there. I have to come to accept that."

The report does not include official police reports, citing an Illinois law that allows agencies to withhold documents connected to an ongoing investigation.

The findings support the university's long-held position that nothing could have been done to prevent the tragedy.

"He wasn't on our radar," said NIU Police Chief Donald Grady. "He wasn't even a student here anymore."

During the time he was a standout undergraduate student at NIU, from 2002 to 2006, Kazmierczak, surrounded by the reassurance and praise he needed, was not plagued by mental illness for the first time in years. Described as the department's "golden boy," he graduated with a 3.88 grade-point average, worked as a rare undergraduate teaching assistant and began pursuing a master's degree.

But Kazmierczak became disenchanted with his department after a change in leadership. In e-mails and other writings, he complained that the graduate program for criminology was being scaled back in order to focus on gender and racial equality disciplines.

Kazmierczak transferred to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but he kept in touch with NIU colleagues until he was rebuked for an "unprofessional" and "inappropriate" attack against a former classmate on a sociology message board. Kazmierczak stopped visiting the site and lost one of his strongest ties to his so-called surrogate family, according to the profile.

The report suggests Kazmierczak selected Cole Hall for his shooting spree because of his familiarity with the auditorium. He took his first sociology class in the building, served as a teaching assistant in the auditorium and spent hours in the nearby sociology offices.

"By ending his life and the lives of other siblings (students) there, Kazmierczak would have come full circle," the report said. "It was where he had flourished. Now it would be the setting for his grotesque end."

He may have chosen Valentine's Day because it had been tied to some of his failures, the profile speculates. He returned home from the Army on Feb. 14, 2002, after being discharged for not disclosing past psychiatric problems. He took his corrections officer's exam on Feb. 14, 2007 — then lost his dream job later that year.

Mary Kay Mace read the report, knowing it could never definitively tell her why Kazmierczak killed her daughter, Ryanne. Instead, she chose to focus on the positive, such as the list of more than 50 agencies that helped in the aftermath.

"There's no rational way to explain an irrational act," she said.

But Harold Ng, whose head was grazed by pellets, is still searching for answers. He has read prior accounts of Kazmierczak's history and has found himself doing Internet searches for information.

"Any information is good information," said Ng, a senior.

Peters said he has not forgiven Kazmierczak, whose name he has refused to say aloud since one of his initial press conferences after the shootings. On Thursday he said that releasing the report "closes the public phase of 2/14."

"We move on with our healing and our grieving and our remembrances," he said. "We need to move on."

[alienlovechild 75]

In the 18 months leading up to his lecture hall massacre, Kazmierczak's mother died, he lost his job as a corrections officer and he became angry because he believed NIU had de-emphasized his graduate program, leading him to transfer to another university, according to a 300-page report released by the university Thursday.

The report offers the most detailed account to date of Kazmierczak's troubled life, including repeated suicide attempts that required hospitalization, unresolved conflicts with his parents stemming from their decision to institutionalize him and interest in satanic rituals.

The 27-page profile of Kazmierczak, written by an independent psychologist hired by NIU for about $10,000, states that the shooter had been diagnosed as a teenager with schizoaffective disorder, a disabling mental illness characterized by a combination of schizophrenia and a mood disorder such as manic-depression.

The profile suggests he increased the difficulty of his shooting spree as if it were one of his beloved video games. When he had emptied the shotgun and walked down into the audience with his handguns, he fired at only those who ran or ducked. Those who sat frozen in their seats, the easiest targets, were ignored.

But Kazmierczak became disenchanted with his department after a change in leadership. In e-mails and other writings, he complained that the graduate program for criminology was being scaled back in order to focus on gender and racial equality disciplines.

This guy had a lot of issues and unable to cope with his problems: mentally ill, angry about losing his job, angry at NIU, death of his mother, problems with parents, satanism and video games. Most people can handle some or all these problems but this guy was giving off some bad vibes.

"He may have chosen Valentine's Day because it had been tied to some of his failures, the profile speculates. He returned home from the Army on Feb. 14, 2002, after being discharged for not disclosing past psychiatric problems. He took his corrections officer's exam on Feb. 14, 2007 then lost his dream job later that year."

I can't believe the Army would boot out someone who lied about previous mental illness during wartime unless he did something very wrong when he was in the Army. Mentally ill people with suicidal tendencies and access to guns simply don't mix.

Edited March 20, 2010 by alienlovechild

[one...two...tree 2,762]

• Mandatory background checks on all gun purchases.
• Schools need to design emergency plans that would thwart such an attack.
• Allow college students, faculty and staff who obtain a concealed weapons permit to carry a firearm onto campus...with the caveat that they register with the college so that the college is aware.

[alienlovechild 75]

How come we have school shootings now and not so much in the past in a nation that always had plenty of guns?

From the time I was in kindergarten to the time I graduated from college, there were 9 shootings. So far for 2009-2010 were 13 shootings.

Name Location Date Year Death toll

University of Texas at Austin massacre Austin, Texas, United States August 1 1966 15[11]

SC State killings1 Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States February 8 1968 3

Kent State shootings1 Kent, Ohio, United States May 4 1970 4

Jackson State shootings1 Jackson, Mississippi, United States May 14–15 1970 2

Olean High School shooting1 Olean, New York, United States December 30 1974 3

California State University, Fullerton massacre Fullerton, California, United States July 12 1976 7

Cleveland Elementary School shooting San Diego, California, United States January 29 1979 2

Deer Creek Middle School shooting Littleton, Colorado, United States April 7 1982 1

Parkway South Middle School shooting Manchester, Missouri, United States January 20 1983 2

Goddard Middle School shooting Goddard, Kansas, United States January 21 1985 1

Portland Junior High School shooting Portland, Connecticut, United States December 10 1985 1

Henry Ford Community College shooting Dearborn, Michigan, United States April 10 2009 2

Wesleyan University1 Middletown, Connecticut, United States May 1 2009 1

Harvard University Cambridge,Massachusetts, United States May 18 2009 1[13]

Larose-Cut Off Middle School shooting Larose, Louisiana, United States May 18 2009 1

Skyline College shooting San Bruno, California, United States September 2 2009 0

Atlanta University Center Atlanta , Georgia, United States September 3 2009 1[14]

Deer Valley High School shooting Antioch, California, United States September 16 2009 0

Northern Virginia Community College Woodbridge, Virginia, United States December 8 2009 0

Discovery Middle School Madison, Alabama, United States February 5 2010 1 [15]

University of Alabama in Huntsville Huntsville, Alabama, United States February 12 2010 3 [16]

Deer Creek Middle School Jefferson County, Colorado, United States February 23 2010 0[17]

Birney Elementary School Tacoma, Washington, United States February 26 2010 1[18]

Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio, United States March 9 2010 2[19]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting

[one...two...tree 2,762]

How come we have school shootings now and not so much in the past in a nation that always had plenty of guns?

I think a lot of them are copycat crimes. The amount of media attention that such a tragedy brings, attracts people who want that kind of attention. The types of weapons and availability of such weapons also plays a part. Kids are also more exposed to graphic violence than we were 30-40 years ago. I don't think there's much that can be done about limiting kids exposure to graphic violence beyond ratings systems and giving parents adequate digital controls over content, but we can make campuses safer, we can make sure we are legally selling to only law abiding citizens who are mentally stable, and we can limit high capacity weapons.

[scandal 951]

How come we have school shootings now and not so much in the past in a nation that always had plenty of guns?

We did not have as many high-powered, accurate automatic and semi-automatic weapons in the past, as we do today. These are inventions of our time and the death statistics of their use bear out the tragic results.

You're probably right that school shootings are a relatively recent phenomenon. But there's always been plenty of gun violence. There were duels, Wild West shootouts, bank robberies at gunpoint, etc. throughout American history. Not to mention good old fashioned "stick em up" muggings in dark alleys.

I think also our media culture has some responsibility for this modern wave of school shootings. Television, videogames, Internet sites that celebrate violence and cheapen death .. for most of us, it's just entertainment to watch a zombie movie or a horror movie with everyone getting blown to bits. But for that small number of really troubled individuals, this kind of imagery may be just what sends them over the edge.

I think a lot of them are copycat crimes. The amount of media attention that such a tragedy brings, attracts people who want that kind of attention. The types of weapons and availability of such weapons also plays a part. Kids are also more exposed to graphic violence than we were 30-40 years ago. I don't think there's much that can be done about limiting kids exposure to graphic violence beyond ratings systems and giving parents adequate digital controls over content, but we can make campuses safer, we can make sure we are legally selling to only law abiding citizens who are mentally stable, and we can limit high capacity weapons.

Eerie. We used different wording, but said almost exactly the same things.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

We did not have as many high-powered, accurate automatic and semi-automatic weapons in the past, as we do today. These are inventions of our time and the death statistics of their use bear out the tragic results.

You're probably right that school shootings are a relatively recent phenomenon. But there's always been plenty of gun violence. There were duels, Wild West shootouts, bank robberies at gunpoint, etc. throughout American history. Not to mention good old fashioned "stick em up" muggings in dark alleys.

I think also our media culture has some responsibility for this modern wave of school shootings. Television, videogames, Internet sites that celebrate violence and cheapen death .. for most of us, it's just entertainment to watch a zombie movie or a horror movie with everyone getting blown to bits. But for that small number of really troubled individuals, this kind of imagery may be just what sends them over the edge.

That is the elephant in the closet that most gun advocates aren't willing to acknowledge, and then they use the logic of how difficult it is to designate what weapons are capable of mass killings.

Eerie. We used different wording, but said almost exactly the same things.

Are you wearing a gray t-shirt right now with sandals?

[scandal 951]

Are you wearing a gray t-shirt right now with sandals?

Brother!! Is that you, brother?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Brother!! Is that you, brother?

[alienlovechild 75]

We did not have as many high-powered, accurate automatic and semi-automatic weapons in the past, as we do today. These are inventions of our time and the death statistics of their use bear out the tragic results.

You're probably right that school shootings are a relatively recent phenomenon. But there's always been plenty of gun violence. There were duels, Wild West shootouts, bank robberies at gunpoint, etc. throughout American history. Not to mention good old fashioned "stick em up" muggings in dark alleys.

I think also our media culture has some responsibility for this modern wave of school shootings. Television, videogames, Internet sites that celebrate violence and cheapen death .. for most of us, it's just entertainment to watch a zombie movie or a horror movie with everyone getting blown to bits. But for that small number of really troubled individuals, this kind of imagery may be just what sends them over the edge.

I don't think the weapons used are any more powerful than those used in the past. For example, Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter who killed 33 students, used two firearms during the attacks: a .22-caliber Walther P22 semi-automatic handgun and a 9 mm semi-automatic Glock 19 handgun.

New weapons?

"In the United States in 1896, the first American gun designer to develop self-loading semi-automatic pistols was John Browning, whose models were manufactured by Colt in the US, and by the Belgian firm of Fabrique Nationale (FN) in Europe. Like Luger's work conducted around the same time in Germany, Browning's first successful design was in 7.65 mm caliber, the Browning M1900."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-automatic_pistol

As far as TV and movies go, you'd be surprised at the number of murders and battles filmed. Even Shakespeare had a lot of killings in most of his plays. The violence turns some people on but I've heard that the number of prescription drugs for kids may be part of the problem but of course kids with mental problems are going to be treated with these drugs and they don't all freak out.

[slim 1,533]

We should blame this on inanimate mechanical devices and not crazy people.

[lostinblue 1,989]

The man in the article was intent on killing someone. The sad fact about our free society is often there is little you can do to prevent this.We had many mental hospitals and closed them. So the unstable people are around us. I know someone who is bipolar. If he is off his meds he is ready to check out.He has a very loving support network to make sure this does not happen. As long as the pills are taken he is normal. Many people lack this support and are on their own. By the way he drives tractor trailer for a living. How will it be reported if he decides to check out when driving this rig. Just another auto accident involving several autos or mass murder using a truck. How many people decide to kill when they are driving a car and it is just reported as "just another car accident"Ban all guns and another weapon of choice is used. Rather than post all day about how bad guns are. How about the lack of the ability to identify and control these said people BEFORE they kill.

[Danno 1,228]

It seems we have more mental health professionals, more medications to treat the mentally ill, more acceptability of the treatment and more availability of the mental heath care..... yet clearly our society is not getting better but getting worse in this regard.

What do the tea leaves say?

Oh yes, we have guns too.