It's Not the Medication

Great, now they're going to go on about him stopping his medication. Here's a clue, I don't care what medication you're on, it doesn't suddenly take you from sane graduate student to four-gun-wielding mass murderer just like that.

The media is retarded.

Oh, and one more thing. Even if you aren't allowed to carry weapons on campus, where are the two or three individuals it takes to rush this guy and take him out? Sure you'll probably die but you'll save lives and anything beats sitting on the floor waiting to be executed. I'm not saying I'd have the balls. I'm saying I'd rather live in a world where people did. Like this:

"I heard this girl scream, 'Run, he's reloading the gun!'"

Somebody should have run toward him at that point. Something.

Again, I don't know that I"d be a hero in this situation. But things would have turned out better if there had been a couple there. Too bad this world teaches you how to be a victim now instead of taking control of your own life. They teach you to give the criminal your wallet. They teach bank tellers to give them whatever they want. They teach students to run when threatened.

Sometimes you have to stand and fight. I hope, if I'm ever this unlucky, I'll have the courage of my convictions and I certainly have no gripe against those that didn't fight back. I have a gripe with a society that values acquiescence over bravery.

NIU Shooting

It turns out my friend was in the next building to where the shootings occurred. He was in the Stevens building, the tragedy happened in the Cole building.

Here is an interactive map that shows you how close it was (south central campus).

Here is the information I've gotten so far (I'm not sure what the media is reporting and don't have time to check right now so this is just what my friend says):

It appears the killer was a Sociology Graduate Student at NIU that transferred to the University of Illinois campus at Champagne. Apparently he was well liked and won awards so this is unexpected, to say the least. They don't seem to know why he transferred at this point but perhaps it was heartbreak? That's the last I'm going to talk about him because I don't want him to get any more attention.

I am told the Police arrived on the scene 1 minutes and 29 seconds after the 911 call. That is pretty impressive and shows that the planning done after Virginia Tech may have been effective even if the results were bad.

As soon as events were known, my friend and his colleagues locked the building shut and holed up for over an hour until the all clear was given. The Stevens Building is a concrete building with steel doors so it was considered rather safe. He and his coworkers spent the time attempting to keep the students calm through what must have been the most strenuous event of their lives.

The campus is closed until at least Monday with several events cancelled.

It is at times like this you realize how tenuous our grip is on life. My friend was a hundred yards and one insane person's decision away from not joining me on my birthday tomorrow. Just 100 yards and plans of joy and fun we'd had for months would have turned to sorrow and mourning.

And for at least 6, it has (I don't count the piece of shit shooter). I can only lower my head in sympathy for the victims of this disaster and their friends. The pain caused when life is lost by sudden tragedy is only magnified when that life is young and full of promise. God bless the victims and their families.

Update: A sad exchange. I asked my friend if he knew any of the victims and he said "I don't know. I don't recognize any of the names of the people that were killed."

NIU Shooting

My friend is a graduate student at NIU in Dekalb. He says they were on lock down for over an hour and then let out. He spent the time mostly keeping his students calm.

He's alive. That's all I need. I'm very sorry for those that aren't and their families.

If only students and faculty were armed.

Update: Oh, and one more fucking thing. Are you motherfucking cocksuckers in the media happy now? Your non-stop publicity of each and every mass murderer makes the idea of immortality very appealing to the type of deranged psychopaths that think the world owes them something for their loneliness on Valentine's Day.

I have a better idea. We should erase these people from the record. We should make them nothing. We should fucking vanish these people so in death they are even more obscure and worthless than they were in life.

Okay, I feel a bit better now.