Earlier today, a man with a shotgun, a handgun, and (some reports suggest) a third weapon, walked into a classroom on the campus of Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Illinois.  He proceeded to open fire, killing four and wounding 15 (some reports say 17).

NIU is about 25 miles from Duckford, and I've spent many a happy day in the library, and a few very happy nights on the campus itself (none of your business exactly where, if you know what I mean).

Because of this tragedy, Duck U. had a few tense moments... nobody really knew what was going on when it started, so there was some concern about the safety of OUR students as you can imagine.  Safety first... and the Duck U. security team is quite good (I may owe my life to them, actually, but that's a story oft told).

The Virginia Tech shooting was bad enough... but this is closer to home.  I had a Valentine's Day post in mind, but I suddenly have no interest in it.

Stay safe, my friends, and give your mom a call if you can.  Just because.

1

They just announced the shooter's identity, and it sounds like he was just plain crazy. No sign yet of a motive.

May he burn in hell.

2

Or maybe not burn. One report said this:

The man who gunned down five people at Northern Illinois University before killing himself had become erratic after failing to take his medication and carried a shotgun to campus inside a guitar case, police said yesterday.

I haven't seen any other mention of that, so your guess is as good as mine. If more comes out though, it may begin to explain what in hell happened.

3 I've heard the same reports, Steven, and it sounds like it's probably the case.  The question becomes why a former NIU student that was practically worshipped by his professors went off his meds.

From where I'm sitting, seeing the anguish he caused (this is just about the only news story in Duckford these days), knowing that a couple of the most critically injured were helicoptered to the same hospital emergency room that I was taken to during The Incident (one of whom subsequently died), and seeing Duck U.'s flags flying at half-mast, I'm not particularly in the mood to be generous.

Today was a very quiet day at Duck U., with a lot of pensive students.   One of my favorite kids amongst the student body, a living embodiment of the genki girl trope, looked like she'd been crying off-and-on since the reports came out.  She told me she'd not slept, either. 

I've seen the news crews crawling around Duck U. and the Duckford Junior College, looking for students in pain to interview.  Friggin' vultures... and we're not even where the tragedy occurred, we're just nearby.  I don't even want to see what the media is doing at NIU.

So forgive me if I'm not feeling charitable towards this bastard.