Chicago Area Local News

DE KALB, Ill. (CBS) ― A clearer picture of the Northern Illinois University gunman was coming into focus on Saturday as authorities learned more about Steven Kazmierczak's life leading up to the deadly shooting.

We've learned that Steven Kazmierczak stayed in a motel near the NIU campus for three days before the deadly rampage and investigators have recovered some his possessions there.

Classes have been cancelled at NIU until Feb. 25th, but many students are still on campus trying to make sense of what happened here.

Northern Illinois University was so quiet on Saturday you could hear the sobs of students paying their respects to the five shot to death inside Cole Hall on Thursday afternoon. Seven victims remained hospitalized on Saturday.

It took just minutes for Kazmierczak to change the lives of thousands of NIU students and former students forever.

Grad student Kim Regnier said, "I think the biggest question everyone is asking is 'Why? I just don't understand.'"

Investigators have not revealed a motive for the shooting, but they have confirmed Kazmierczak suffered from an anxiety disorder and had gone off of his medication.

Back in 2002 he was discharged from the U.S. Army after just a few months of basic training.

He also had a short-lived stint as a prison guard that ended abruptly when he didn't show up for work.

He worked from Sept. 24 to Oct. 9 as a corrections officer at the Rockville Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in Rockville, Ind. His tenure there ended when "he just didn't show up one day," Indiana prisons spokesman Doug Garrison said.

And he reportedly was involved in a troubled -- possibly abusive -- on-again, off-again relationship. While searching for a motive, authorities questioned family and friends and tried to determine whether he had recently broken up with his longtime girlfriend.

One person who knew the couple, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, said the couple's relationship was on-again, off-again and "really rocky." Kazmierczak was controlling, she said.
"He was abusive, had a temper," she said. "He didn't actually hit her; he would push her around."

Jim Thomas, an emeritus professor of sociology and criminology at NIU who taught Kazmierczak, insisted there was no indication of trouble between Kazmierczak and his girlfriend.

"I do know they loved each other very much," Thomas said. "He felt extremely close to her. ... To my knowledge, I saw no indication of abuse."

Jason Dunavan, a tattoo artist in Champaign, said he spent hours as recently as last month creating tattoos for Kazmierczak. His work included an image of the macabre doll from the horror movie "Saw" riding a tricycle through a pool of blood with images of several bleeding cuts in the background.

Dunavan said he was so proud of the tattoo that he enlarged a photo of it and placed it on a wall in his shop -- a move he is now rethinking.
"I don't know if I still want that picture on my wall," said Dunavan, who also described Kazmierczak as timid and apologetic.

"He was really, really mousy."

Most recently, Kazmierczak was living in Champaign, working on a graduate degree at the University of Illinois.

On Monday, he checked into a Travelodge motel near campus, paid in cash and spent three days inside room 105. Police have removed a computer and a duffle bag that had been sealed with glue and are examining both for clues. Empty energy drink bottles, clothes and cold medicine containers littered the room.

NIU junior Katie Tegrar was staying at the motel with her mother on Saturday while she waits for classes to resume.

"She wanted to just come up and see me and make sure I was ok," Tegrar said.

She and other students wonder how Kazmierczak purchased four guns legally – at least two of them in Champaign -- along with ammunition from the same online gun store as the gunman in the Virginia Tech massacre.

People who are hospitalized for mental illness – such as Kazmierczak was at a Chicago area psychiatric facility – are supposed to be flagged and denied access to weapons "as long as they are in our database. We do these checks on a daily basis and again, we're checking against criminal history and mental health issues,"  said Illinois State Police Master Sgt. J.T. Coffman.

When Kazmierczak was identified as the person who killed five people at NIU, Louise, a former employee for a Chicago mental health facility, immediately felt like she knew why.

"He didn't take his meds. He did not take his meds. You just knew it right away. He's not a person who just goes and kills someone," Louise said.

But that's exactly what he did on Valentine's Day, when he opened fire on a crowded lecture hall, killing five people and injuring 17 more before taking his own life. Police have said he was off his medication and had been acting erratically in the weeks before the shooting.

Louise, who didn't want to show her face or use her last name, worked with Kazmierczak in a live-in residential treatment facility about eight years ago.

"He came to the program because of not being able to be at home," Louise said.

Louise wouldn't talk specifically about Kazmierczak's illness but did say he used to cause himself to bleed by cutting himself and was prone to dramatic mood swings when he was off his meds.

"It was just hills and valleys. There was no in between," Louise said.

When he was medicated Louise said Kazmierczak caused no problems in the Chicago facility and showed no propensity for violence.

"Never in the years that I worked with him did I see him exhibit that kind of behavior. There were only problems when he had gotten off his medication," Louise said.

But Louise said Kazmierczak didn't like taking his medication while living in the home because he didn't want to be stigmatized as abnormal.

"One of his biggest fears was people just knowing. And he so wanted to be not on medication or classified in that arena," Louise said.

Now he will go down in history as a mass murderer.

"He's not a monster or a madman. He's a young man with an illness," Louise said.

Louise said she will try and remember the happier times before the young man -- who she described as quiet --- opened fire with shots heard round the world.

The Illinois State Police are responsible for approving legal purchases of the types of weapons Kazmierczak used. They gather mental health information from state agencies, but somehow Kazmierczak's slipped through the cracks allowing him to buy four weapons legally.

In June, a new law designed to prevent gun sales to the mentally ill will go into effect, but even the law's sponsors say they're not sure if it would have prevented Thursday's tragedy.

Meantime, parents of Chicago area college students on Saturday called for tough new laws to keep kids safe. They gathered to show their support for stronger gun control laws.

John and Sharon Roszkowski have a son and daughter at NIU.

"I just feel as an individual, that I'd like to do something i think it just keeps escalating and it's like how many more people have to die?" Sharon Roszkowski said.

"Something has to be done and I think it's a personal and individual responsibility. You have to take action," John Roszkowski said.

They've heard police release details of how Kazmierczak bought all four guns he used at NIU legally.

Chester Kuilis with the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence said, "This is craziness. We as a society have to start asking why do we have this easy availability of handguns, assault weapons."

Jennifer Bishop with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said, "This is about saving lives. It's about keeping guns out of the wrong hands."

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has been pressing for a national web of tougher laws that would reinstate a ban on assault weapons, require universal background checks and eliminate gun trafficking.

Speakers at Saturday's press conference urged students everywhere to contact their local elected officials and demand tougher gun control. And we're also told that at Oakton Community College, they'll be opening up their counseling center to anyone who might be having trouble dealing with the tragedy in DeKalb.

We tried to contact the National Rifle Association and the Illinois Rifle Assocation for comment, but neither group responded.

Most friends and acquaintances were shocked when they heard about Kazmierczak, but not all.

"He had a troubled past from what he told me and that he was at Northern because of scholarships," said classmate Hardeep Rooprai. "He wanted to basically better himself. He was trying to be a better person."

She said he's confided to her about a difficult family life and time spent in group homes.

On Friday, investigators interviewed Kazmierczak's father in Lakeland, Fla., and his former girlfriend in Champaign, the Chicago Tribune reported. Investigators provided no details about what they may have learned.

Kazmierczak's father, who moved from Elk Grove Village to Lakeland, Fla., several years ago, wasn't up to talking about the situation

"Please leave me alone. ... This is a very hard time for me," he said as he threw his arms up and wept. He declined further comment about his son and then went back inside his house, saying he was diabetic.

Kazmierczak's neighbors, at an apartment complex in Champaign said he and his girlfriend mostly kept to themselves.

On Feb. 9, Kazmierczak walked into a Champaign gun store and picked up two guns -- a Remington shotgun and a Glock 9mm handgun. He bought the two other handguns at the same shop -- a Hi-Point .380 on Dec. 30 and a Sig Sauer on Aug. 6.

All four guns were bought legally from a federally licensed firearms dealer, said Thomas Ahern, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. At least one criminal background check was performed -- Kazmierczak had no criminal record.

Kazmierczak had a State Police-issued FOID, or firearms owners identification card, which is required in Illinois to own a gun, authorities said. Such cards are rarely issued to those with recent mental health problems.

Kazmierczak grew up in Elk Grove Village. He was a B student at Elk Grove High School, where school district spokeswoman Venetia Miles said he was active in band and took Japanese before graduating in 1998. He was also in the chess club.

Nobody answered the door Saturday morning at the Urbana home of Kazmierczak's sister, Susan. But sobs could be heard through the door of the Urbana home, where a statement was posted:

"Our heartfelt prayers and deepest sympathies are extended to the families, victims, and all other persons involved in the Northern Illinois University tragedy. We are both shocked and saddened. In addition to the loss of innocent lives, Steven was a member of our family. We are grieving his loss as well as the loss of life resulting in his actions."

When classes resume at NIU, the university has promised a strong police presence to try to help students feel safe. Cole Hall, where the shooting took place, will be closed for the rest of the semester.

CBS 2's Katie McCall, Mike Puccinelli, Pamela Jones and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Editor's Picks

• CBS 2 WeatherTrak Forecast
• Gay Celebrities
• Famous People Pigging Out
• Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!
• 2009 Celebrity Deaths