Feb 15, 2008 10:29 pm US/Central
NIU Students, Community Gather To Share Grief
DeKALB, Ill. (CBS) ―
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Those who remained on the DeKalb campus of NIU after the Feb. 14 massacre came together to share their grief and mourn the victims.
CBS
After the shooting spree had ended at Northern Illinois University most of the stunned, emotionally scarred students opted to leave school and head home.
But some remained in DeKalb, and all through the day and night, have had several opportunities to come together and comfort one another.
As CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports, there was comfort in numbers Friday night as members of the community and beyond gathered in prayer, as NIU employees worked to shine some light on this otherwise dark day.
"We will get through this together," said NIU President Dr. John Peters.
The murders of five students here by former grad student Stephen Kazmierczak has shaken not only current classmates, but former ones as well. Many came to the campus Friday to lay flowers at a memorial, reflect and grieve.
"It helped. Sort of nice to pay our respects," said NIU alumnus Jeff Threwitt.
"One of the victims is a friend of a friend," said 2005 NIU graduate Janette Gallup. "I just felt like I had to be here to support her and her family."
It is one way to try and grasp what happened here, a time on campus where words aren't necessary.
"Very solemn… It was a quiet bond where you don't even need to say anything to know everyone's feeling the same thing here," said NIU sophomore Martha Pankow.
NIU's president canceled classes for Friday, and effectively shut down the campus. He said earlier Friday he will decide at a later date when to reopen the campus. He said right now he wants to focus on the healing process.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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