Via the AP: A timeline of the shooting at NIU.
The most relevant portion:
-2 p.m.: Geology 104 begins in a large lecture classroom in Cole Hall. More than 160 students are registered for the class.
-Shortly after 3 p.m.: A man dressed in black and carrying a shotgun and two handguns steps out from hiding and begins a “very brief rapid-fire assault” before killing himself, says NIU President John Peters. Campus police are on the scene in “less than two minutes,” says NIU Police Chief Donald Grady.
-3:20 p.m.: Officials post a message on NIU’s Web site saying there is a report of a possible gunman on campus and warn students to “get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all clear.”
-3:40 p.m.: NIU officials say all classes are canceled and campus is closed.
Along the lines of this postand the comments thread with it, I am not sure what can be done to prevent someone who is hidden and waiting to attack with three weapons. I can imagine being in a large lecture hall in the mid-afternoon an hour into lecture and it isn’t as if everyone is poised and ready for action. Even once the guy revealed himself it would take a second or two for it to register that that fellow was armed, and by then the firing would have started. I can’t imagine that an armed guard could have done much to stop the attack if the shooter was prepared to kill himself so quickly.
February 15th, 2024 at 7:37 pm
I think sometimes we just have to face the fact that not all tragedies can be prevented or blamed on lax security, a bad mental health system, or our gun laws. A person with strong suicidal and homicidal ideation can find a way to do this sort of thing, probably no matter what we do to try and stop it.
We can’t force everyone with mental health conditions into institutions, nor can we put armed guards on every street corner and in every classroom – and even if we did, is any system 100%?
February 23rd, 2024 at 6:12 am
The events last Thurs at NIU make me sad and angry that my child, the parents of the shooting victims, and all the other students and faculty at NUI had to suffer this tragedy. I feel that if the truth is ever figured out that the doctor that put Steven on those meds is partially to blame and this tragedy is the result of a bad diagnosis on his part. My guess is that instead of a depressed person with compulsive obsessive disorder what he should have been treated for was bipolar disorder. The drug combination if Steven was bipolar would have been like pouring gas on a fire causing uncontrollable rage.
Daily we are bombarded with TV ads saying “are you sad take a pill, restless legs take a pill, etc”. Then we have the drug companies rewarding the doctors to be their “pushers”, with all kinds of high dollar perks. It is no wonder we have millions on mind altering meds. No one learns to control their inner “rage” any more with out a pill.
Back when I was 38 in 1996, I suffered from a fairly sever case of depression that I just could not get through on my own and had lasted about 8 months. As a result, I went to my regular doctor and he said that his medical rep had given him some free samples of Zoloft and he gave me some.
It work and I quickly came out of my depression. He had me stay on them for another 2 months to prevent a relapse.For me a mild bipolar (undiagnosed prior to this), giving me Zoloft was like throwing gas on a fire and I had my first uncontrollable maniac episode. The uncontrollable rage cost me my wife and job. It took me years to regain control of my life and get off the meds. I have been med free for over 5 years and control my bipolar disorder with meditation, exercise, a more balanced lifestyle, and feedback from friends and family, but I must be on constant guard not to “over heat”.
The key is that only experts in mental health should be prescribing these drugs and only the minimum to do the job with a plan to get the patient off them or reduce the dosage with time. For a while general practitioners where passing them out like candy. Most bipolar’s like to run a little hot since it seems like the brain is processing information faster and the answers to problems seem clearer when we are slightly maniac.
It is amazing what can be accomplished when one only needs 4 o 5 hours of sleep a night and you are thinking at high speed. The key is not to become too irritable and sleep deprived which eventually results in being unable to concentrate and make rational decision.