U.S. & World

Family, Friends Begin Goodbyes To NIU Victims

CICERO, Ill. (CBS) ― Memorial services will be held Monday for three of the five Northern Illinois University students killed in last week's deadly shooting rampage.

After a weekend of vigils, the grieving continues.

Family and friends paid their final respects to 20-year-old Catalina Garcia of Cicero at her funeral on Monday. She will be buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery after that.

Many NIU students attended the funeral, dressed in their school's red, black and white colors. There were also many friends, family members and even strangers there to remember a life cut short.

The walk to Our Lady of the Mount Catholic Church was a difficult one Monday morning.

"We just pray to God that, you know, something like this never happens again," said Maria Sanchez. She's also praying for Garcia's loved ones and for her community.

They lost a promising young woman. Garcia, whose family emigrated from Mexico, was a graduate of Morton East High School and wanted to be a teacher.

She worked hard to achieve her goals and many said she was a role model.

"She was trying to make a difference so, I'll definitely remember her as a young girl … trying to do something with her life, something positive," said one woman.

Her friend Kruz Guerrero said, "She had a smile that just makes you feel welcome."

A lot of people who attended the funeral wore pink ribbons with Garcia's name on them; pink was her favorite color.

At a memorial service for Garcia on Sunday, hundreds of friends, family and well wishers filled a suburban Chicago funeral home to pay their respects. One young woman wore a homemade, pink and white T-shirt that read, "R.I.P. Cathy."

"It's like the all-American dream cut short," said her brother, Jaime Garcia.

And Monday evening in Westchester, a visitation is underway for 20-year-old Dan Parmenter.

CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago's Joanie Lum reports a long line of people waiting to get in to pay their respects to the Parmenter family in Westchester, and more cars are arriving.

People gathered in the brutally cold parking lot of Hursen Funeral Home where visitation was held for Parmenter, remembered as a big man with a bigger heart.

Parmenter's father sat down with WBBM-TV's Vince Gerasole, in part to share the story of his son's courage and faith at a tragic moment.

At 6'3" Parmenter loved to ski and play foot ball, but in the days since the NIU tragedy he has also been remembered as a motivated student and unselfish friend. It brings some comfort to his father, Gary, who is struggling to cope.

"Couldn't be more excited or proud of everything he did and who he was and how he lived his life," Gary Parmenter said. "He was the best son you could ask for."

As his family learns details of the terrifying moments surrounding the shootings, they are also consoled by Parmenter's faith in the face of death. When Kazmierczak entered the lecture hall, Parmenter and his girlfriend, Lauren Debrauwere, who were seated in the front row of the lecture hall, dropped to the ground. From her hospital bed, a wounded Debrauwere has spoken of Parmenter's devotion.

"She told her parents that when they were on the floor Dan took her hands and started praying up until the moment he was shot," Gary Parmenter said. "When we learned that on Saturday after visiting her in intensive care it was just so emotional for us to realize that Dan's faith was that great."

From those he met working on the campus newspaper, to the fraternity brothers he coached through charitable drives, friends have reached out to the Parmenter family to let them know how Dan touched their lives. It is helping to ease the pain of their grief.

"As he lead his life he always did the right things and we couldn't be prouder of him than we are," Gary Parmenter said.

Parmenter sold advertising for NIU's newspaper, The Northern Star. Staffers had to cover the shooting tragedy, later learning one of their own had been killed.

"I think it'll be more intense as people get back, the campus is pretty quiet," said Northern Star advisor Jim Killam.

Grief counselors from Virginia Tech are on the way to Northern Monday for four days of intensive training for the faculty and staff. They plan to stay at Northern for the week to help the university prepare to welcome students back to campus when classes resume on Monday.

On Sunday Feb. 24 a memorial service will be held at the NIU convocation center at 7 p.m.

In addition to Garcia and Parmenter, the dead were Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville, Ill.; Julianna Gehant, 32, of Mendota, Ill.; and Gayle Dubowski, 20, last of Carol Stream, Ill.

Motive Remains A Mystery

Investigators still haven't determined what set off Kazmierczak, who opened fire during a science lecture with a shotgun and pistols, then committed suicide.

Kazmierczak grew up northwest of Chicago, in Elk Grove Village, and played saxophone in the school band. He spent time in a mental health center in his late teens, and police have said without elaboration that he had stopped taking some kind of medication in the days or weeks before the shooting.

Meantime, his girlfriend has shed new light on the man behind the shootings. Jessica Baty told CNN that he was a kind and caring person, and he wasn't a monster.

He told her he stopped taking his anti-depressant medication about three weeks ago because "it made him feel like a zombie." He contacted her just hours before the NIU shooting to say goodbye.

"He told me not to forget about him," she told CNN.

Baty also said she received a package a day or two after the shooting. It contained her boyfriend's text books, a cell phone and what appeared to be a goodbye note.

"You've done so much for me," the note said, according to Baty. "You will make an excellent psychologist and social worker someday." Another package contained a gun holster and ammunition.

Baty described an on-off relationship to CNN and said she and Kazmierczak most recently had been living together. "I still love him," she told CNN.

Residents of Elk Grove Village seemed to feel a sense of disbelief and confusion over the attack that thrust their community into the news, said the Rev. Hwa Young Chong at the Prince of Peace United Methodist Church.

"I couldn't believe coming from a place like Elk Grove he could do that," said Judy Glomski. "It's just a friendly town. I guess there are sick people everywhere."

Kazmierczak was studying sociology at NIU. He transferred three semesters ago to the more prestigious University of Illinois in Champaign. Most students and professors on both campuses remembered him as a promising student.

Yet he began assembling an arsenal in August, buying a shotgun and three menacing handguns from a small Champaign gun shop. He added oversized ammunition clips in an Internet purchase from the same dealer that sold the Virginia Tech gunman a weapon.

Kazmierczak had also begun the long process of having his arms blanketed with disturbing tattoos, including a skull pierced by a knife, a pentagram and a macabre character from the "Saw" horror movies, superimposed on images of bleeding slashes across his forearm.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)