I had two questions after learning that another mass shooting on a college campus, this time at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in Dekalb, Ill, had taken place Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. When will this kind of violence stop, and how can we prevent another one from happening?
I didn’t like the answers I kept coming up with, much less the comment from Dekalb Police Chief Donald Grady.
“As much as we do, it’s unlikely that anyone would ever have the ability to stop an incident like this from happening,” Grady said.
Police were on the scene minutes after 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak, a former student at NIU, and a graduate student at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, opened fire on a lecture hall full of geology students, shooting 21, killing 5 before turning the gun on himself.
Not surprisingly, the news media made references to the fact that this was the latest in a series of campus shootings that had occurred throughout the country. To me, however, this was no different than any other incident involving someone walking in with a cache of weapons prepared to go postal.
It was no different from the shooting that took place Feb. 7 in Kirkwood, Missouri when 52-year-old Charles Thornton stormed a city council meeting and killing two police officers and three city officials before being shot dead by police. Thornton was a contractor who had personal issues with city officials.
It would have been no different had Kurt William Havelock carried out his horrifying plan Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 3. Havelock, angry that he had been denied a liquor license, vowed to “shed the blood of the innocent” in a manifesto he had sent to media outlets.
“No one destroys my dream,” he wrote.
Havelock was within sight of the University of Phoenix stadium, armed with a rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition, before backing out at the last minute, contacting family members and turning himself in to authorities.
The only differences were where the acts took place.
What bothers me most now when such incidents happen is how commonplace mass shootings are becoming. No one seems to question whether this could have been prevented or who is to blame. It seems the huge firestorm of controversy that erupted following Eric Harris’ and Dylan Klebold’s rampage at Columbine High School in April 1999 has now dwindled to a soft personal rumble.
"He wasn't erratic. He wasn't delusional,” she said.” He was Steve; he was normal."
A different picture has since emerged in the days following the NIU shootings. Law enforcement authorities have said he may have started planning months ago, as early as last August, for the Valentine’s Day attack.
No one speaks up on whether half the violence seen in movies today which Hollywood attempts to pass off as wholesome popcorn movie entertainment is the reason. Or whether it is the news media who every time some mentally disturbed person goes on a killing spree, gives the sociopath his much needed 15 minutes of fame telling viewers his sob story about how society dealt him/her a bad hand.
Who is to say the news coverage isn’t enough to set off some disturbed person to commit a similar crime?
I wish I could believe that another incident like the one at NIU won’t happen again, but I know it will.
What I do know is I am tired of hearing or reading about another mass shooting taking place somewhere in Anytown, USA.
I don’t have an answer on how to stop such violence from happening.
I don’t think anyone does.
©3/4/08
I didn’t like the answers I kept coming up with, much less the comment from Dekalb Police Chief Donald Grady.
“As much as we do, it’s unlikely that anyone would ever have the ability to stop an incident like this from happening,” Grady said.
Police were on the scene minutes after 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak, a former student at NIU, and a graduate student at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, opened fire on a lecture hall full of geology students, shooting 21, killing 5 before turning the gun on himself.
Not surprisingly, the news media made references to the fact that this was the latest in a series of campus shootings that had occurred throughout the country. To me, however, this was no different than any other incident involving someone walking in with a cache of weapons prepared to go postal.
It was no different from the shooting that took place Feb. 7 in Kirkwood, Missouri when 52-year-old Charles Thornton stormed a city council meeting and killing two police officers and three city officials before being shot dead by police. Thornton was a contractor who had personal issues with city officials.
It would have been no different had Kurt William Havelock carried out his horrifying plan Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 3. Havelock, angry that he had been denied a liquor license, vowed to “shed the blood of the innocent” in a manifesto he had sent to media outlets.
“No one destroys my dream,” he wrote.
Havelock was within sight of the University of Phoenix stadium, armed with a rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition, before backing out at the last minute, contacting family members and turning himself in to authorities.
The only differences were where the acts took place.
The bottom line is such mass shootings can happen anywhere. It’s no longer relegated to the workplace. They have happened at churches, shopping malls, schools and now colleges.It almost happened here at Eastfield and Richland Community Colleges in the Dallas area over the winter sessions last year. On Dec. 21, 2007, both campuses went into lockdown by order of the local police departments. Dallas police were notified that a 29-year-old former student of both colleges made a threat that he was going to return to campus and kill everyone, according to a news story on http://www.eastfieldnews.com’s website. The threat did not, however, specify which college.
What bothers me most now when such incidents happen is how commonplace mass shootings are becoming. No one seems to question whether this could have been prevented or who is to blame. It seems the huge firestorm of controversy that erupted following Eric Harris’ and Dylan Klebold’s rampage at Columbine High School in April 1999 has now dwindled to a soft personal rumble.
Gone it seems are the debates on whether mental health and antidepressant medications are to blame. According to Kazmierczak’s girlfriend, Jessica Baty, he had stopped taking his anti-depressant medication three weeks before the NIU shootings “because it made him feel like a zombie.”Baty told CNN there was "no indication he was planning something."
"He wasn't erratic. He wasn't delusional,” she said.” He was Steve; he was normal."
A different picture has since emerged in the days following the NIU shootings. Law enforcement authorities have said he may have started planning months ago, as early as last August, for the Valentine’s Day attack.
No one speaks up on whether half the violence seen in movies today which Hollywood attempts to pass off as wholesome popcorn movie entertainment is the reason. Or whether it is the news media who every time some mentally disturbed person goes on a killing spree, gives the sociopath his much needed 15 minutes of fame telling viewers his sob story about how society dealt him/her a bad hand.
Who is to say the news coverage isn’t enough to set off some disturbed person to commit a similar crime?
We don’t hear about how easy it is to purchase firearms because someone failed to verify all answers perspective gun owners put on his/her application. Despite his history of mental illness, Kazmierczak was not barred by the state of Illinois from purchasing the weapons he used in the attacks.Society seems to have given up trying to figure out why all this violence is happening and just accept it as an everyday way of life.
I wish I could believe that another incident like the one at NIU won’t happen again, but I know it will.
What I do know is I am tired of hearing or reading about another mass shooting taking place somewhere in Anytown, USA.
I don’t have an answer on how to stop such violence from happening.
I don’t think anyone does.
©3/4/08
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