Thursday, Valentine's Day, will always be burned in my memory. Not as a day of chocolates and flowers but a day of senseless killings. I was on my way to work a night shift around 3 pm. when Ryan (my boyfriend) called and said that there had been a shooting at NIU over the scanner. I rushed into work grabbed my gear and started for Dekalb not knowing whether the gunman was caught.
It's kind of the go know and think later mentality I think a number of journalists have. When I arrived, at about 3:45, the campus roads were closed and I parked out on Lincoln Highway at a McDonalds and ran to Cole Hall. Kids were packing, leaving, consoling, and wandering around looking confused. There was blood trails on sidewalks and police milling around keeping people safe and away from Cole Hall.
As everything unfolded, everyone was hungry for updates into who the killer was, why this happened, and why seemingly innocent students. Some of these answers we may never see.
Virginia Tech was far away for me. I was sorry for the victims and prayed for their families but I was far removed. NIU is my backyard. My college played their college. I went to soccer camps there in the summer, it was real to me.
After the coverage of these stories, I slept for a whole day. I was emotionally, physically and mentally tired. And I will continue to pray for these students, for the families and loved ones of the victims, and for the faculty, students and staff of NIU, for I doubt any of them will get much sleep.
Eyewitness Accounts of the Shooting
Reporting on Their Own: Northern Star
Interview with Shooter's Ex-Neighbor
NIU Mourns
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