DeKalb Tragedy

I've been to DeKalb so many times I could drive it in my sleep. Back when I had the Grand Am I could do it, door to door, on a tank of gas. NIU was the perennial home of Drum Corps Midwest Championships. My first time there was about 30 years ago, and I have been on campus over half those years, most recently in 2005.

Having spent a considerable amount of time in that community brings closer to home the events of yesterday.

DEKALB, Illinois (CNN) -- A gunman dressed in black stepped from behind a curtain at the front of a large lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on Thursday and shot 21 people, six of them fatally, then shot and killed himself, said university President John Peters.

"A lot of people were screaming. Everybody started running for the door," said student Zach Seward. "It was just complete chaos."

Four died at the scene, including the shooter, and three later died at a hospital, officials said.

At least 22 people, including the gunman and a graduate student who was teaching an ocean sciences class, were shot, Peters said.

I'm not going to go off on another Conceal Carry tirade, we don't have all the facts yet. However, you can bet Mitch will be following it closely. A commenter there notes:

it looks like the high school shootings of the 1990s have become college shootings of the 2000s.

An unnecessary waste, no doubt; preventable, probably; how preventable, we'll have to see as the investigation unfolds. For now my heart and prayers go out to the families of those effected and the many many lives that have been permanently and irreversibly changed.

Flash