Steve Kazmierczak - Another School Shooter
Written by OddCulture on February 15th, 2008 in crime, culture, deaths.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the suspected shooter at NIU in DeKalb (65 miles outside of Chicago) was Steve Kazmierczak. DeKalb police asked Florida authorities Friday morning to assist in speaking to his father, Robert Kazmierczak.
Steve Kazmierczak
A sixth student wounded in Thursday’s mass shooting at Northern Illinois University has died, authorities said this morning. Including the gunman, that brings the total number of deaths to seven.
At the same time, the DeKalb County coroner’s office identified four of the victims: Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; and Julianna Gehant, 32, of Meriden.
Valentines Day Massacre
Kazmierczak was not a current student. He had been enrolled as a sociology graduate student at NIU but left school last spring. Kazmierczak, dressed in black, stormed into an oceanography class Thursday afternoon and opened fire with a shotgun and two handguns. In a matter of seconds, he killed six and wounded 15. Then, still on stage, he killed himself.
This was the worst campus shooting in America since April 16, 2007, when 32 people were shot to death on the campus of Virginia Tech University by a student who later killed himself. (In Finland, on November 7th, 2007, Pekka Eric Auvinen killed 8 people at Jokela High School before turning the gun on himself).
Some info on Steve Kazmierczak:
alias: skazmie2
name: Kazmierczak Steven Phillip
pretty_name: Steven Phillip Kazmierczak
email: skazmie2@express.cites.uiuc.edu
sudent_department_name: School of Social Work
student_program_name: MSW:Social Work -UIUC
student_level_description: Graduate - Urbana-Champaign
student_major_name: Social Work
phone: (815) 508-2416
office_address: 1207 W. Oregon, M/C 140, Urbana, IL 61801
title: ACADEMIC HOURLY
department: School of Social Work
type: person phone student staff
club he was in: Academic Criminal Justice Association
Vice-President, skazmierczak@gmail.com
This may or may not be his LiveJournal. Not sure at this time.
This might be his webpage, although it is currently down, and we guess that the daily limit will now be exceeded forever.
Kazmierczak coauthored a paper on prison self-injury:
Thomas, Jim, Margaret Leaf, Steve Kazmierczak, and Josh Stone. 2006. “Self-Injury in Correctional Settings: ‘Pathology’ of Prisons or of Prisoners?” Criminology and Public Policy 5(1):193-202.
Steve Kazmierczak: “Beginning graduate work at Northern Illinois University. In addition to his interests in corrections, political violence, and peace and social justice, he is co-authoring a manuscript on the role of religion in the formation of early prisons in the United States with Jim Thomas and Josh Stone. He is also develops content for online education and is an executive board officer of the NIU student chapter of the American Correctional Association.”
Political violence? Uncovering this man’s history should be very interesting, indeed.
… Steven P. Kazmierczak, 27, formerly of Elk Grove Village
… most recently registered as a graduate student pursuing a masters degree in sociology at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.
… just before he left NIU, Kazmierczak’s 58-year-old mother died in the fall of 2006 after suffering from ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a degenerative disease, according to obituaries from the time and ALS memorial Web sites.
… in 2006, the NIU sociology department gave Kazmierczak one of its highest honors, the Annual Dean’s Award.
… Kazmierczak graduated from Elk Grove High School in 1998. The high school yearbook lists him as enrolling in a special public service class and playing in the school band. He also made honor roll.
Any other information on steve Kazmierczak would be welcome.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:51 am
This was written April 7th, 2006.
“steve motherucking kazmierczak. yes thats exactly the problem here.
i was working at pirates cove in late 1995 and i was you know $4.50/hr child labor laws be damned and like i remember steve kazmierczak, the kind of kid who engaged in odd acts of fellatio with his dog, the kind of kid who’d go and masturbate in the bathroom while you were over at his house, the kind of person who injured kids on the train ride cuz he was mental and he shouldn’t be given domain over kids on little faux-traincars with an aluminum baseball bat… when steve f*cking kazmierczak ran up to me in late 95 early 96 proudly boasting his brand new copy of “i care because you do” like he was finally in with the cool kids.
both me and my friend joe died a little bit that day.” http://forum.watmm.com/index.php?showtopic=6876
These people don’t come out of no where from no where. There are always signs of serious mental issues long before they do something like this. Who knows what sick adult screwed this kid up. And what sick adult screwed up the adult that screwed up Steve? Can we every trace the beginning? I wouldn’t want to be the judge on that one.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:54 am
This is just sick. Why would someone even have the NERVE to do this. Only a sick, and mentally ill person would ever do this. And they are saying that this 27 year old male did this for “revenge over a failed relationship.” Thsi is just typical in todays society. I still want to know his life story, because he might have done this because of something that had happened in his past.
February 15th, 2008 at 11:34 am
[…] Odd Culture - Strange People - Weird Things wrote an interesting post today on Steve Kazmierczak - Another School ShooterHere’s a quick excerpt According to the Chicago Tribune, the suspected shooter at NIU in DeKalb (65 miles outside of Chicago) was Steve Kazmierczak. DeKalb police asked Florida authorities Friday morning to assist in speaking to his father, Robert Kazmierczak. Steve Kazmierczak A sixth student wounded in Thursday’s mass shooting at Northern Illinois University has died, authorities said this morning. Including the gunman, that brings the total number of deaths to seven. At the same time, the DeKalb County corone […]
February 15th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I think it’s sad that people are writing hate messages towards him. You are not him and were not in his mind. Maybe it’s people like you who caused him to act the way he did
February 15th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Shut up Alexandra. Who cares what was going through his mind? If he just killed himself maybe I’d feel sorry for him, But he didn’t. He ruined the lives of God knows how many people to make his statement. No one should give a shit about him or give him any sympathy whatsoever
February 15th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I think the answer is not a failed relationship. Well, sort of. Above you quote that he’s working on a book on faith and prison. With Josh and Jim (Prof.).
Well, Jim’s publication list includes this:
J. Thomas* and Josh Stone. 2007. “Faith-based Prison Programming.
pp 275-287 in Controversies in Criminal Justice
(G. Barak, ed.). Wesport (Conn): Greenwood Press.
So, Steve is gone from NIU, but Josh, who was Pres. to Steve’s VP in the Club, is still there and publishing on Steve’s topic.
Just an idea.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Yea, what Bob said. STFU Alexandra. He killed innocent people. He was a twisted, sick, mother fucker and his actions should not be defended. I think its sad that Alexandra is defending his sick ass.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Alexandra, I think you are right. And I think it is courageous to say what you did. If we keep going on judging and blaming and punishing the killings will continue. That is what I think.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
No really, what the hell? The media reported so far that this kid had NO record before the incident. Bullshit! Clearly something was going on before this happened, you just don’t walk around smiling one day and the next engage in a killing spree.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
What do you get if you fight agression with agression? more agression
February 15th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Too bad he killed himself, would have been better to torture him or let him rot in jail for the rest of his life. What a gutless Scumbag!
February 15th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I can’t believe some of you, I grew up with Steve. I don’t know what happened after we graduated high school to put him down this path but the kid I grew up with was a decent kid. I sat and ate lunch with him from grade school on up, we were in the same classes.
No matter how terrible his last acts I can’t reconcile this with the adult I knew graduating high school, and the kid I grew up with.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Obviously something pushed him over the edge. The news article said he showed no emotion as he shot people. As if he was detached from the reality. But what a cruel, terrible way to end your life! It’s sickening, and pitiable, but worst of all, he bears the guilt for the death of 5 innocent people as well as wounding and terrorizing of many more. Whatever his life was before, he chose the end. A sad legacy to leave behind.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Alexandra and Alexander r the same people. Not very creative either.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
You are only as good as your last act……..I can not defend this man, “Steve.” Whether he had a bad day, got in a fight, lost a friend, I cannot defend him. I am ashamed to have shared the human race with him.
But, we have to progress in a different direction. Feelings of anger and hate are only natural after such a ridiculous, gutless, cowardly act. We have already tried to work toward providing help for these people. So far, the results have been minimal. Why? Because it is nearly impossible to pinpoint each of these sick people prior to events like this. We simply cannot do it.
This is why school is so important from day one. We must push to get more funding to public schools and provide students with every opportunity to succeed. Do you all really feel like we have done that? I can so that we are no where near that.
There are always going to be bad apples, and they develop at various stages of life. But if we can show kids that there are alternatives and opportunites, and that FAILURE is a learning opportunity and is actually success in disguise, we WILL progress. Until that time, we will feed agression with violence, and violence with agression, and the circle will continue.
I live close to NIU, and I feel for all who are involved. It is so hard to believe when it is hundreds of miles away at Virginia Tech, but it leaves you absolutely thoughtless when it is in your own backyard.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Couldn’t agree less with Anonymous. The school structure the way it is will ALWAYS result in kid’s stuck pursuing subjects they are marginally good at and having their self-esteem destroyed in the process. We need to pump money not into the current piece of crap public schools, but into a more flexible system that sees kids for who they are, and gives them what they need. Boys who can’t sit still should be an environment where they don’t have to sit still - not MEDICATED. And girls shouldn’t be rewarded for being quietly compliant - they should be encouraged to QUESTION. And this FLEXIBLE system should identify kids who are really in need of, well, whatever, and HELP THEM. There are so few REAL “bad apples” - there are a lot of kids who would be okay if we just did some early intervention (or even LATE intervention). Before they are so miserable they kill a bunch of folks on the way out.
What I don’t understand in the case is that SOMEONE has said he was off his meds and behaving “erratically”. Why didn’t they DO SOMETHING? You know why? Because in our society today there is NOTHING we can do to help the mentally ill in our lives. Unless you have the $$$ in hand.
Sorry, rambling.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
not same as alexandra and I AM very!creative;-)
February 15th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Its a shame he didnt suffer before he died.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Word newBob
February 15th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
That rant that the first poster linked to might not mean a thing. If you read the whole post it becomes pretty clear that the guy who wrote it has a few biases of his own that might affect his character judgment. Which isn’t to argue with the OP’s point in general - I just don’t think we can really trust that the dude actually sucked off his dog.
He may have deserved some sympathy up until the time when he stepped into that classroom, but he pretty much forfeited it at that point. Of course, wishing he was still alive so he could be tortured isn’t exactly productive or meaningful either. I’ve read he had been in counseling and stopped taking his meds. At this point, who knows for sure. But a better idea than trying to wish him back to life so you can chop off his dick might be to learn to keep an eye on/support your friends that might now be in a similar situation - meds, psychs, counseling, etc. I’m sure we’re going to see a parade of people that knew this guy all saying how they never saw it coming and he was such a nice guy. There always is. And if we always miss the signs, we’re looking for the wrong shit. This asshole is dead. Worry about the people who are still alive.
Oh, and it seems pretty clear that that livejournal link isn’t the same guy, and considering the comments people are leaving, it might be better to take it down.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I knew this kid, friend of a friend type deal. He was odd, quiet always gave me a creepy vibe, but then a lot of people give me that so I didn’t think anything of it. Last I remember seeing him was in early jan. he showed me his tattoo’s. They were all graphic an gory, but thats what guys like as tattoos. One was the doll from the Saw movies. I found that a little weird, why would a guy this age have a tattoo of some terrifying doll that signified nothing but a crazy serial killer. It scared me. But whatever floats your boat I thought. Then they started talking about his guns, he didn’t bring it up, but just sat there and said a few things here and there jokingly, but quiet. I immediately thought why in the hell does this kid have a gun? He doesn’t look like a hunter and didn’t live anywhere I would consider dangerous enough for a gun, let alone two. The only thing I could think of is that he needed to prove something to himself or to someone else, since he was tall and gangly, and didn’t look like he was mr popular. It’s scary knowing that I hung out with that kid, that I sat there and discussed these things with him. He is one of those guys that you just know something is wrong with him the first time you meet him, but he’s nice so you figure he is just a little odd. As for a motive goes, I do know that he had some issues with his sexuality, maybe it has something to do with that.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
This tragedy seems a little weird to me. Dressed all in black and with a black beanie. Was this guy a member of some strange cult. Why do some of the darkest cults seem to get a pass when someone who seems to be involved in some such thing goes off and kills a bunch of people? Mass murderers who seem to have some connection to a more traditional religion seem to have their religious affiliation concentrated on very quickly, but these others it seems to be different for them. Maybe they receive no mention at all or maybe only after being exposed in foreign media. What’s going on in America?
February 15th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Aron,
one of the first things I noticed about this kid on his CNN-pic were his strange eyebrows, they were unnatural tidy for a mans.
Beeing gay can be very difficult, can make you really hate yourself (and the world) when you think something is wrong with you. It’s still something not to be proud of and can make you feel unloved, unwanted in this world. And that can lead to very, very destructive behavior. So you’re right. It might have something to do with it
February 15th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I hope he is rotting in hell right now.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
to anon, whether or not your statement is true is not very valid in the situation anymore. From the articles about him there hasn’t been anything say that Steve was a strange boy with a odd fascination with guns and blood and gore. Regardless of what led Steve to do what he did, it has happened already and grieving is still happening and will happen. However, not to be too harsh on the subject but I seriously doubt that what Steve did is the last time we’ll see shooting/killing of innocent strangers.
About the “bad apples” thing. I think that we as human beings are all “bad apples”, if you will. We all also for some reason to an extent can choose good, or right from wrong. Call it what you will, that isn’t my point, sometimes we choose the bad over th good. For what reason? When have you made a wrong decision knowingly and then asked why you had done so admitted to your acts of injustice? I also think it’s human nature to want to defend ourselves. In otherwords, we hate to be wrong. Of course what “Steve” did was wrong and very cowardly. However, how can you say that you are any better when you don’t know when you’ll make a bad decision and then continue down that path of being a “bad apple”.
Just throwing that out there, and this is in not in defense of Steve but know that your anger will do nothing.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
it appears he taught in the class he went on a rampage on
February 15th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I noticed his eyebrows, too. Very odd. And where did they get the information that he was “off his meds”?
February 15th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
as per http://www.bigdekalb.com
February 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
you can believe me or not but what i said is true, i never said he had an obsession with blood and gore i just noticed thats what he had tattooed on his body, in talking to him he didn’t sound like a person obsessed with blood or gore. he also didn’t sound like a person who would do something like this. all i am saying is that there was something disturbing to me about this kid and i just brushed it off like many people do when they meet people who are different to them. it just goes to show that anyone whether you think they are “normal” or not is capable of a national tragedy. Sure the articles you have read say one thing, but none of those people actually knew steve. and i’m not saying that i really knew him either, but the fews times i met him he gave me a strange feeling even though he acted “normal” and his full forearm tattoo of the saw doll gave me an even stranger feeling about the kid. and i do know that his roomate from u of i gave them the info about him being off the meds.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
it’s just scary to have the feeling that someone you know is a mass murderer, who knows the next person you meet can’t be someone like steve
February 15th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
The livejournal most likely is not his site. The fact that that person so frequently refers to things as wicked….that’s a word quite frequently used in the Boston area, not the midwest.
February 15th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
The other instructors for this soc class he taught are the others who helped write this book that someone said could be the motive since they no longer include him in the book
February 15th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
The issue with public violence events is whether the perp could have been intercepted. Perhaps someone will write the story of this guy’s life so it is clearer where and when he signaled his bizarre thinking. I’m sure it’s obvious he did suffer from some quite bizarre thinking, right? Of course who doesn’t have a bit of bizarre thinking? Still, when such thinking starts to leak out into the world, whether in the form of tattoos or needing meds or creeping people out (how about a creepy website?), then that can be a signal. The psych folks speak of these “signals” as cries for help, even though not infrequently the persons themselves would dispute that label. Whatever. But the issue remains, what if society in some way were able to recognize someone like this shooter guy? Before he went bonkers, I mean. Keep in mind all that moment of recognition would look like is that there’s something brewing, something going wrong in the guy. Not necessarily where it’s heading.
I don’t think there’s any means today of judging which of these tilted folks is just a bit ‘bent’ and which is the next serial murderer or mall killer. And I don’t think there’s much research going in that direction either, for the simple reason any effective way of looking into the mind of people simply freaks out everyone in society as an infringement of privacy and personal freedoms. In other words it seems we aren’t yet developed enough as human beings and as a society to accept and nurture methods to identify guys like this shooter early in their trajectory toward self/other destruction. We only recognize them after the fact (which besides being pointless doesn’t require any sophistication).
That leaves us all (at least me) wondering: where is the next guy (or woman — not often women; why is that?) going to flip out and lay waste to everyone around him? Almost makes you want to get a concealed gun permit, so at least you could fire back.
R
February 15th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
it a sloppy society we live in. one kid slips through the cracks and became mental. one in millions. 5 people got sacrificed for the american way of life. whats the big deal. they could have been killed in a car accident on the way home. could have been a tornado. its a small cost to preserve our way of life. time will pass. we will forget.
February 15th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
well big deal maybe this sloppy society will slip one day against you and this no big deal you think it is will be right in your lap to deal with
February 15th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
cost was 5 lives. benefit - america’s dominance in the world. its a small price. think about all the innocent people around the world dying for you way of life. think about it.
ask yourself this, would america give up its century of prosperity and dominance to save the people in 911? i highly doubt it. the strong survives is what you preach.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I knew this kid in high school we graduated in the same class and hung out in the same group. He was a nice sweet guy, quiet, but nice, and intelligent. I hope he and the other victims have peace, whereever they are now.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I go to the same high school he did. My chemistry teacher remebers him being a little strange but nothing that would make him stand out as a killer.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
As always, people feel like they should understand the murderer more than have sympathy for the victims. “Let’s focus on why he did it, and why he wasn’t held enough when he was a child bs”. No one is responsible for their own actions anymore, it’s getting sicker by the day when people feel sorry for the mass murderer then the unfortunate receivers of a senseless, selfish attack.
February 15th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
tuptup’s point about not forgetting the victims (really their families — the victims are gone now) is valid, but one reason discussions like this one are occurring aren’t to feel sorry for the mass murderer but to understand something from this tragedy that might, just might, function as a warning and so spare us from being listed someday on the front page as a person who happened to be on the receiving end of some other guy out there who lost it.
tuptup doesn’t want to make this murderer innocent of his deed. This brings up a question that lingers at the fringes of what some of us are thinking (at least me) — namely are we really responsible for what we do, think, feel?
Once we are more than a couple years old, most everyone is granted some degree of responsibility. And as we grow older that responsibility is thought to develop until some poorly defined moment when we are fully responsible for our actions. But rarely do we make ourselves responsible for what we think or feel. “I’m responsible for what I feel,for what I think?”
Society has picked a couple of points — age 16 for vehicle operation, age 18-21 for consumption of alcohol, voting, and being able to make a contract (I guess marriage is part of that). I don’t know anyone who’s 20 who will assert without a bit of defensive bragging they are a fully responsible adult. Most people in their 20s, early 20s at least, get nervous when they are offered real responsibility. Shall we talk about parenting? Taking on a big project (as opposed to being allowed to co-create one)? It seems most people seek to limit their responsibility, even for their own actions. So the whole issue of responsibility is a tricky one.
I do agree with tuptup that there’s confusion about when people are responsible for their own actions. “Oh, Fred was drunk” seems like a popular one, as if Fred wasn’t responsible for getting drunk. (Fred is an arbitrary name, for those who are confused.)
What this murderer reminds us about is that people can operate in ways the rest of us have a difficult time understanding. Was this guy with his agenda and guns responsible for what he was thinking? What was he thinking? Was he intoxicated (we’ll hear about this eventually)? What is madness, anyway?
One character found in gaming worlds and occasionally at costume parties and other occasions is the zombie. Why is this character so compelling? Somehow it reminds us such creatures might exist for real. Was this guy - who apparently killed so arbitrarily - a zombie, running some inner thought-world so twisted he found no problem enacting the sequence of events that probably will forever taint that lecture hall? Seems likely to me.
Which then brings up the very legitimate question: what changes a normal person into such a zombie? And can we develop ways of recognizing them before they pull out their guns?
R
February 15th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
My gut feeling is that this boy was Bipolar, and when Bipolar ppl get off their meds they decompensate very quickly,10-14 days. He was probably already completely psychotic by the time he bought those guns. This country is going to HAVE to start dealing with the mentally ill on a realistic basis and STOP just slapping a medicated bandaid on the problem! Until that happens these public/school shootings will continue. Damning and cursing the mentally ill is f****** stupid and will not change, or stop, this from happening. So grow up already.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
its funny how some people got all the answers. the truth is none of y’all know anything about why he did it and what kind of person he was. the news reports say he was off his medication for something. It’s fucking horrible wht happened, and i’m not saying there aren’t some evil sociopath people out there who are responsible for acts like these sometimes, maybe even most of them. but for all anyone knows he could have had a serious mental illness…and if you know anything about how serious they can sometimes be - this kid could have been way out there in dreamland. in like a living nightmare or something. i’d be heard of stories where people who were really sick like this would think all sorts of crazy stuff is happening…. some of these illnesses are biologically based, caused by severe chemical imbalances and they can get way out of hand really fast and lead to something like this. he could have been literally lost in a living nightmare, because of a mental illness… you can’t judge someone’s actions in the state the same way you can say a sociopath… if it was because he was sick in the head in that way he does deserve compassion also. obviously the people he killed are clearly the victims here but that doesn’t mean people have to turn someone into a monster when they have no clue what the real story is. i have no idea, and i’m not going to pretend i do.
who knows what is to blame really, if his brain chemistry was really unhinged, maybe it’s all the fucking chemicals in our food, or maybe just a genetic illness, Maybe all it is is a disease… not some monster out of a kids story.
If i had to guess I would say he had a serious mental illness, that he was taking medication for, hence his ability to operate and be a good student and have friends and be an all around good person… something happened and he skipped some meds (probably not realizing what might happen) and than he spiraled out of control into a delusional state. Why else would a successful academic, or general all around decent human being (as he has been described as) fly of the hook like that?
February 15th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
only in america
February 15th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
i think that Steven Kazmierczak had a very serious mental problem that he was taking med’s for like paranoid schizophrenia or Bi-polar etc …. ,and anytime you stop these drugs abruptly people show signs of rage for no reason or other disillusioned thoughts .
My concern was this if he was so mentally defective why was he issued a gun card from the state of illinois obviously someone was treating him for his illness or he wouldnt have the drugs he wasn’t taking . one of the questions for the illinois FOID card is are you
being treated for a mental illness , but i guess it doesnt matter if you say yes or no because no one checks anyways or they cannot obtain private medical records for crazy people , so why not just give them the guns .
In the state of illinois gun laws are all screwed up they have a checks and balances they dont use for crazy people , but if you get a traffic ticket they wont give you a FOID card , but its ok if your crazy .
In the city of chicago where mayor daley try’s to mold gun laws in springfield you cannot have a gun or ammunition , but when a known criminal enters your house in chicago and he is armed and ready to kill you its against the law to blow him away , and there have been major court cases to this effect .
Bottom line Steven whatever his name was crazy, and if the FOID system worked as intended this probably wouldn’t have happened or then again he may have gotten them in another state where you dont need a gun card .
More food for thought what if are conceal and carry laws were passed in illinois maybe this may have been avoided only two states that don’t have conceal and carry Wisconsin and Illinois .
Here is another item NIU would have heeded the message when some knucklehead put some racial threats on a bathroom mirror some months back . Do you think that maybe just maybe NIU would start putting is Metal detectors and hiring armed guards to protect the students like they do in Chicago public schools i know i went to high school in Chicago there they have armed Chicago PD with Metal Detectors.
No they did nothing and here is the outcome for doing nothing just like when Bill Clinton had Osama in his grasp’s and did nothing oh yea didnt he also have a van with 400 lbs of C4 explosive go off under the trade center while he was in office as well .
February 15th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
good thing he blew himself away at least the taxpayers wont have to pay for the sick bastard to sit in jail for 20 or 30 years before execution like John Wayne Gacy .
February 15th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
newBob:
I agree with you. I did not mean that we should push kids into what we want them to do. You are right, if you don’t want to sit down ALL DAY for the rest of your life, why should you. Now, at some point, self-discipline must be taught, and students need to be able to follow directions. But I agree, meds don’t solve the problems, they cover them.
Also, to whomever commented about everyone having the answer, you should know that this is America, and in America, we all have freedom of speech. Not Freedom of the right answer, just freedom of speech. It is good to be able to bounce ideas off of others.
The other point I think is very strong is that mental illness is a way to blame someone else for one’s actions. (Blaming someone’s mental illness on others). I agree totally, people need to start taking responsibility. As a whole, this new society is becoming “soft.” By that, I mean that we are taught that it is ok to not be responsible because someone else will pick up our slack. NOT TRUE!
February 16th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Hello. NewBob nailed the issue 100% Physical traits do come into play (as NewBob) stated. The issue is what takes place while a child is developing. At this point it is next to impossible to distinguish between people that had a genetic issue or were fine at birth only to be driven mad by their surroundings. Time and time again we have people that seemingly have come from good homes, good families, supposedly raised well by good people, only to “snap” and in a short amount of time go out and murder scores of people. And you are not talking about morons either. As much as he is hated, Cho was an extremely intelligent individual, this was noted all through his high school years, in his college years (up until the incident that took place during his senior year) and was noted during the federal investigation that followed his rampage. As was the shooter we are discussing right now. There is something in our society that is driving our people mad and it is not something that guns, meds, counseling or surveillance is going to fix.
February 16th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Have people really noticed the amount of mental illness that those who work in the so-called mental health industry display. That many of these people do not have any morals or ethics. That a number of psychiatrists are not only into violence, but promote violence. That a number of people are falsely labeled and illegally drugged There is not any test that will state that one has any mental illness. If a person has been forced fed the psychiatric drugs, they leave pixels on the brain. They are drug induced. An EEG will give a false positive. Much of psychiatry is a con game, mad doctoring, sham, shell game, etc. There is no such thing as “Chemical Imbalance”. It cannot be measured or anything else.
The drug companies and many psychiatrists have knowingly lied about the evil side effects of the psychitric drugs for years. They do not tell the complete truth about the side effect involving the psychiatric drugs.
Who even knows unless an autopsy is done what these drugs did to his organs. For the truth about the psychiatric drugs one can see it at “drugawareness.org”. As a doctor has stated a 5th grader can be taught in one week’s time what psychiatry is all about the way it is practiced. In many ways it is the darkside of medicine and there are many sad stories that come out of these places. In truth you probably could not believe the hell that goes on behind closed doors and how there are those who are lucky if he/she survives the insanity. AT times thousands and thousands of dollars are exploited from insurance companies for cruel, inhumane, degrading treatment and punishment, abuse, torture, violence, “Unspeakable Crimes Against Humanity, and homicidal activity.
February 16th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I wonder if Steve was bipolar. I know individuals who are bipolar and when medicated are normal, caring people, but when off meds, become psychotic and homocidal. From the posts I’m reading here, it’s pretty clear that many people don’t understand mental illness at all. People who become psychotic are LITERALLY not in their right minds and should not be treated as though they are terrible people who made a conscious decision to commit unspeakable violence. I know a woman who when psychotic tried to cut off her own head with a razor blade to keep “the wolves” from eating her. She also attempted to harm her brother, whom she loves dearly. She is medicated now and feels quite a bit of shame, guilt, and bewilderment as to how her brain could malfunction is such a way. I truly hope that those of you calling Steve a slimeball never have to experience the torture of mental illness.
February 16th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
The poster who said there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance in the brain has been brainwashed by Scientology or some other group that knows NOTHING about mental illness. Not only is there a chemical imbalance in the brains of people with mental illnesses like schizophrenia, there are physiological differences in their brains (atrophied gray matter, larger ventricles, etc.)
February 17th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Perhaps it’s too late to add anything more to this discussion. It seems while contributors have been reflecting on this tragedy all the essentials have been touched upon: mental illness, how little we know about it yet how terribly it can distort a person’s functioning both in the world and in terms of thinking/feeling, the complexity and helplessness of it all for the afflicted as well as for those around him/her.
The point about gun laws in Illinois (what are the rules anyway?) seems very relevant in that some states restrict gun access if there’s a mental illness history, while others don’t. Of course the determined person can travel to a state where restrictions don’t exist to make their weapon purchase. Or get a gun illegally. The “gun lobby” and others who have never been touched by gun violence object to creating a national law about access to guns by the mentally ill, so it appears those who probably should never gain access to weapons will continue to get them. Perhaps it will take the murder of some pro-gun Senator’s child by someone who is mentally ill for this rule to change.
As for determining when a person is mentally ill, I agree there are few if any truly objective tests to establish mental illness. An experienced professional can diagnose, usually accurately, but many aren’t all the experienced and further they have too many people needing care. The growing sophistication of functional brain imaging promises to eclipse this now very subjective process, but that technology scares lots of people. It sounds like as a form of “mind reading”, which many see as only a few steps away from brain washing and dangerously close to sacred moral and spiritual issues. However, the continually growing stain of lives lost to random violence in schools, malls, and other domestic situations may slowly be tipping public opinion in the direction of supporting a large-scale scientific effort to discover what goes on inside the brains of people who are labeled mentally ill. To say nothing of the “purely” criminal.
Imagine a study where every person convicted of violent crime were scanned. Even if the treatment of those convicted criminals was unaffected by their scan results, such a study would develop a database of correlates between brain function and future behaviors (or at least the risk of future behaviors). At some point that database could offer predictions. Is a pedophile going to re-offend? (Not all do, but certainly some do.) Is a person still prone to violence? Is a person delusional? Obsessed? Holding a grudge?
At some point functional correlates between how people’s brains work and certain types of crimes will be discovered. That’s my belief anyway.
I don’t think this type of study is being done anywhere today. Perhaps Kazmierczak’s violent actions will move the professionals a small step closer to acknowledging that research on this problem is essential and overdue. In the meantime we can hope those same mental health professionals, however handicapped they are by their lack of robust tests of mental dysfunction, excessive work loads and other difficulties, can minimize the number of future events like the one that occurred at NUI.
But they are hindered by what can only be called denial within a large segment of society — that mental health problems are common, insufficiently addressed or understood, and impose a very large burden on the whole of society. Mental illness has existed for a long time. In the past it was dealt with by murdering the afflicted; more recently these people were tortured and/or caged, sometimes for public ridicule. At least we don’t do that (much) now. (However, interested readers might find the book “Crazy” enlightening. And distressing.)
My hunch is that when we have faced the problem of mental illness squarely we will discover something precious and marvelous about ourselves as a byproduct, something that will let us look back upon today’s world and wonder “how did we manage to survive with such a primitive world view”. Unfortunately those six people who died in that classroom have no chance of seeing that come to pass.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Dear Jessica Baty,
Sorry. When Stephen took the lives of others by murdering them, he wasn’t a “victim” anymore.
He was a hard core manipulator. You have been duped.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
The only I see that is sure about these situations is that the people involved (the perps) are confused. We need to keep open minds when thinking about motivation because we don’t know that they actually know what they doing when they do it. Ambien, for example. Was he dreaming? Mind control is another. Keep in mind that there is a very strong anti-faith movement amongst the intellectual community at this time (Social Darwinism and aethism rules). If you don’t believe me, then look up Gonzales vs. Iowa State University. Also, FIRE.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 am
Fuck him let him rot in hell the stupid son of a bitch its where he belongs fucking
homocidal maniac .
this fucker pre meditate the murder and had it all planed out before hand which tells me
he thinks he was going to be some martyr or something well let me tell you martyr’s dont go to heaven
and have sex with 1000 virgins they fucking go to hell were the burn for eternity, so fuck this asshole its too bad someone
didnt fucking blow his goddamn head off before he got one shot off i would have love to been in this class with a 50 cal smith and wesson i would have turned the tables then .
Smart kid or not i would have blown his ass away ,
werent the nazi generals in world war II also real intelligent sick fucking bastard.
i live twelves miles from where this happened, and you would not fathom the amount of damage this sick little fuck has caused to
dekalb which a small town community that would have never dreamed of this happening .
i know this my kids will not go to college unless they either put metal detectors in or let the students arm themselves .
how many times does this shit need to happen before someone does something i.e. Kent State, Virginia tech, and now NIU .
I pray for the people of DeKalb who have to go thru all this shit because of one little evil fucker gone mad . Fuck him rot in hell you little bastard .
March 21st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
It’s because your government is sucks, i believe many more similar thing will happen in the near future until they realized how bad it is if we keep those gun stores alive.
Mad man = dangerous
Mad man with gun = Fatal
Simple solution…..
April 15th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
“Only a sick, and mentally ill person would ever do this.”
Most mentally ill people aren’t dangerous or violent. Maybe if you were less of an asshole you would be able to understand that!
April 15th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
“i know this my kids will not go to college unless they either put metal detectors in or let the students arm themselves .”
I feel sorry for any kid who has you as a parent!
June 25th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
In our society, nice guys finish last…well, sure but don’t be surprised if the nice guy blows away some not so nice guys before he decides to check out…treat people with some respect and this kind of shit won’t happen so often…otherwise, it’s an eye for an eye…lesson learned.