Feb 21, 2008 10:51 pm US/Central
The NIU Tragedy: 1 Week Later
Investigation Hampered By Gunman's Attempts To Cover Tracks
DE KALB, Ill. (CBS) ―
-
-
Police secure the crime scene on Feb. 15, after a shooting rampage at Cole Hall on the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, on Feb. 14.
Amanda Rivkin/AFP/Getty Images
In the same commons area Northern Illinois University students were told to avoid last week in a campus alert, they gathered by the hundreds Thursday to symbolically reclaim what was taken from them when a gunman opened fire and killed five students.
The campus observed five minutes of silence – one minute for every student killed by Steven Kazmierczak.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports students, faculty and community members gathered in DeKalb to grieve, try to move forward and deal with the pain.
"I was a member of the class, so I just felt it was important to come back here, because these students didn't deserve to lose their life," said NIU junior Lindsay Ullmann, a Schaumburg native.
One week ago Thursday, Ullmann crawled from the shot up lecture hall praying for her life.
Kazmierczak, himself an NIU alumnus, kicked in a door in Cole Hall and without a word started shooting. It was unthinkable carnage that NIU's president said will never be forgotten.
"Know that where we stand now is forever hallowed ground," President John Peters said. "And we will transform that space into a vibrant learning environment that will honor the memory of Catalina, Dan, Gayle, Julianna and Ryanne."
A woman from Kazmierczak's past remembers that she spent time with him in a group home 10 years ago. Jennifer Sansone she says he was never violent but that he did have a history of hurting himself.
"He'd be like, 'yeah, I cut myself,' and that would be his way of demanding attention, he would be like 'see what I did' or something of that manner, just to let us know that he wanted attention, and he needed help," she said.
Sasone said she hadn't talked to Kazmierczak in a long time, but she was shocked to find out that he was the gunman.
Meanwhile, as CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, the investigation into gunman Steven Kazmierczak's motive continues, despite roadblocks created by his own attempts to cover his tracks.
Kazmierczak, 27, murdered five people in Cole Hall during a geology lecture.
Now, investigators are analyzing more than 100 pieces of evidence and pour over transcripts from more than 120 different interviews, but six days after he murdered five people and injured 16 more, they are no closer to finding out why.
"We haven't at this point figured out anything," NIU Police Chief Donald Grady said. "We have no links, nothing that leads us to believe directly what that motive may have been."
The FBI was called in to search Kazmierczak's laptop and phone records.
"We don't have any sort of manifesto or anything along those lines," said FBI Special Agent Bill Monroe.
Investigators wouldn't disclose what kinds of medications Kazmierczak had stopped taking before the shooting but CNN is reporting that his girlfriend says the 27-year-old had been on Xanax for anxiety, Prozac for depression and Ambien for insomnia.
While authorities work to find answers, students continue to grieve.
CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman and Mike Puccinelli contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Jewish Celebrities
SLIDESHOW: NIU Tragedy
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
