Six confirmed dead in shooting at NIU Updated: 8:37 p.m.

DeKALB — A man dressed in black opened fire with a shotgun from a stage of a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, killing himself and five others, University President John Peters said. At least 17 people have been shot and police have confirmed that the shooter is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Peters described the incident as a “rapid fire” shooting. He said witnesses “say someone dressed in black came out from behind a screen in front of the classroom and opened fire with a shotgun.” “The assailant began firing into the assembled class from the stage,” Peters said. “Early reports indicate that he had a shotgun and two handguns.”

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Interview video of two eyewitnesses to the shooting inside the classroom
Short interview video of an eyewitness to the shooting
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NIU post-shooting press conference
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Peters said there were a total of 22 casualties — six dead including the gunman — four females and two males. The gunman was previously enrolled in an NIU Master’s sociology program in the spring of 2007 but not currently enrolled at the school. Peters said they believe the gunman was enrolled at another state university. “As far as we know, all of the injured were students, including the instructor, who was a graduate teaching assistant,” Peters said. Peters said investigators are not aware of any previous arrests involving the gunman or any prior police contact. The university was put into shut-down mode and all activities and classes were canceled on all campuses. Cole Hall is a large lecture hall where many general education classes are held. Peters said thousands of students enter the centrally located building each day. NIU Police Chief Donald Grady said police have no known motive for the attack that occurred about 3 p.m. at Cole Hall, about 15 minutes before class ended. Police say they believe the gunman acted alone. Grady said the gunman killed himself on the auditorium stage. Grady said the shooter was armed with a shotgun and two handguns. Grady stressed that the entire incident took place over a matter of seconds and said campus officers were on the scene in less than two minutes. “As much as we do, it’s unlikely that anyone could stop an incident like this from the beginning,” Grady said. Of the 17 people who were taken to an area hospital, at least one male has died, a Kishwaukee Community Hospital spokeswomen said shortly after 7 p.m. It was not immediately known if that person was included in the death total reported by NIU Police. “We did everything we could when we found out,” Peters said. “We’re doing all we can right now as we identify individuals who are injured,” he said. “Hot lines have been established for communication purposes,” Peters said. “NIU staff are at the hospital monitoring the activities, and campus ministries are on site.” Dan Parmenter, a sophomore from Westchester and a staff member of the NIU school newspaper, died as a result of the shooting, an advisor for the paper said Thursday night. “He was a wonderful young man, just very nice, very easy to work with. (He was) somebody who was part of our family,” said Maria Krulll, business advisor for the Northern Star newspaper. Krull said Parmenter had worked with the newspaper for about a year as an advertising sales rep. He was a member of a fraternity and had been considering a major in finance, she said. “He was just like a teddy bear, always willing to help others. (He was) a kid you want to have for your own. I just can’t believe I’m not going to see him anymore,” she added. NIU sophomore Zach Seward, 20, was in Room 101 of Cole Hall where the shooting took place. About 90 students were in the class at the time, he said. A white male in a black hat and black hoodie opened the side door on the stage in the lecture hall, then pulled a shotgun, pumped it and just started firing at people at about 3:05 p.m. “It was just a regular-looking kid like us,” he said. Seward said it seemed there were no intended targets. “I didn’t hit it was real. It was just a normal day of lecture hall,” he said. “I sprinted around the corner and ran into Neptune East (residence hall).” Seward saw teaching assistant Joe Peterson duck, “but that was all I saw,” he said. “I ducked behind the seats and ran out the door,” he said. “As I was running, I just kept waiting for something to hit me in the back. I didn’t know where to run, tried to decide where it’s safe to be, and there isn’t anywhere safe.” “The TA (teaching assistant and doctoral student ) looks like half his scalp was gone,” Seward said. “I think I saw him on a stretcher.” “You see this kind of stuff on TV and you never think it would happen to you,” he said. “I don’t think I could ever go into that classroom again.” Seward said he later spoke with students who had stayed in the classroom. They told him the shooter later took out a pistol and continued shooting. Shane Pope, 21, a junior studying in finance, said the shooter “came in the side stage door on the stage where the teacher was talking and unloaded with a shotgun right into the front row. Everybody put their heads down and ran out, and he just kept shooting. ... It was the scariest thing ever. It was right at 3:05 because I was thinking about cutting out of class early to go have a beer — I should have.” In December, NIU closed for a day during finals week after campus police found threats scrawled on a bathroom wall in a dormitory. The threats included racial slurs and references to shootings at Virginia Tech University. Police determined after an investigation that there was no imminent threat and the campus was reopened the next day.