Steven Kazmierczak

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Steven Kazmierczak. Photo courtesy of University of Illinois.
Steven Kazmierczak. Photo courtesy of University of Illinois.

Steven Phillip Kazmierczak was a graduate student in the School of Social Work at the Urbana-Champaign campus who shot and killed five students and injured 18 on the Northern Illinois University campus in Dekalb, Illinois, before killing himself.

Kazmierczak had no history of a criminal record. No suicide note has been found.

Contents

[edit] Campus shootings

Jay Patel, the manager of a Travelodge motel near Northern Illinois University, said Kazmierczak checked in on February 9, 2008, paying with cash and only signing with his first name. Patel said he had left the room with cigarette butts, empty energy drinks and cold medicine containers. Kazmierczak left behind a duffel bag, which contained ammunition, with its zippers glued shut and a laptop computer.

Kazmierczak reportedly listened to the track "The Last Day on Earth" from Marilyn Manson's 1998 Mechanical Animals album in his Honda Civic before entering Cole Hall on the Northern Illinois University campus on February 14, concealing a shotgun in a guitar case and hiding three other guns under his coat. Kazmierczak was wearing a black shirt with the image of an AK-47 and "Terrorist" printed on it, dark pants, black ski hat and possibly a black trenchcoat.

Kazmierczak purchased a pump-action Remington shotgun and a Glock 9mm handgun on February 9, a High Point 380 pistol on December 30, 2007, and a Sig Sauer pistol on August 6, 2007, all legally from a Champaign gun store.

Kazmierczak bought two empty 9mm Glock magazines and a holster for a Glock handgun on February 4 from Green Bay, Wisconsin-firearms dealer TopGlock.com. A person other than Kazmierczak signed to receive the package on February 12. The website did not sell the bullets or guns to Kazmierczak. The website's owner also runs TGSCOM Inc., which was the website used by Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people at Virginia Technical University in April 2007.

Graduate student Joseph Peterson and teaching assistant Brian Karpes were teaching Geology 104: Introduction to Ocean Sciences, whose enrollment totaled 162, in Room 101 of Cole Hall when Kazmierczak entered onto the lecture stage from the right side door behind the curtains at 3:06 p.m. Kazmierczak open fired with the shotgun on Peterson, Karpes and about 150 students, killing:

  • Gayle Dubowski, 20, of Carol Stream, Illinois
  • Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero, Illinois
  • Julianna Gehant, 32, of Mendota, Illinois
  • Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville, Illinois
  • Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester, Illinois

Survivors said he was calm and didn't say or shout anything before or during the shooting. Ten Nothern Illinois University police officers arrived on scene, by some accounts between 30 and 90 seconds, but not before Kazmierczak killed himself with one of the handguns. Northern Illinois University activated its emergency alert system, which consisted of e-mails and website notifications. The system had been revised after the shootings at Virginia Technical University.

Investigators recovered 48 shell casings and six shotgun shells in Cole Hall. Kazmierczak was 27 years old.

[edit] Background

Kazmierczak grew up in Elk Grove, Illinois, and graduated in 1998 from Elk Grove High School where he was active in band and the chess club. Kazmierczak's parents placed him at a Chicago psychiatric treatment center after high school, according to a former employee. Reports say he had attempted suicide three times while in high school, and had resisted taking his medications for bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders. The reports also say he had suffered psychotic episodes and heard voices and hallucinations.

Kazmierczak enlisted in the Army in September 2001 after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and was administratively discharged for psychological reasons in February 2002. His family moved to Lakeland, Florida, in 2006 shortly before the death of his mother, Gail Kazmierczak, at age 58.

Kazmierczak was an undergraduate student in sociology, emphasis in criminology, at Northern Illinois University. He was also vice-president of Northern Illinois University's Academic Criminal Justice Association. The sociology department gave the dean's award to him in 2006 for his work in the field, which included a paper titled "Self-Injury in Correctional Settings: 'Pathology' of Prisons or of Prisoners?" that he co-authored with Northern Illinois University professor Jim Thomas. Thomas was scheduled to speak at Cole Hall on Monday.

Kazmierczak completed one semester as a graduate student at Northern Illinois University before he and his possibly former girlfriend Jessica Baty transferred to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

School of Social Work assistant professor Janet Carter-Black was Kazmierczak's faculty adviser and teacher in her human behavior and social environment course in fall 2007. Carter-Black said she "found Steven to be a very committed student, extremely respectful of me as an instructor and adviser."

Kazmierczak withdrew from the course in late September and became a part-time student. He started work at medium-security prison Rockville Correctional Facility for Women in Rockville, Indiana, on September 24 and left on October 9. Kazmierczak resumed full-time student and academic hourly status in the spring 2008 semester.

University police Chief Donald Grady said Kazmierczak "was an awarded student. He was someone that was revered by the faculty and staff and students alike." Grady said that people close to Kazmierczak said he had been taking medication but stopped, "and he had become somewhat erratic in the last couple of weeks."

Baty said the drug he had stopped taken was the anti-depressant Prozac. The status of Kazmierczak's and Baty's relationship was unclear at the time of the shootings, but Kazmierczak and Baty shared a phone conversation as late as the early hours of February 14.

Police authorities intercepted several packages Kazmierczak sent to Baty before the shooting, which he asked her not to open until after February 14. Some of the items included:

Kazmierczak's Valentine's Day note to his girlfriend, Jessica Baty. Screen capture courtesy of CNN.
Kazmierczak's Valentine's Day note to his girlfriend, Jessica Baty. Screen capture courtesy of CNN.
  • "The Anti-Christ" by Friedrich Nietszche
  • A textbook for her class about serial killers
  • A package with a gun holster and bullets
  • A purse
  • A new cell phone that she had told him she wanted
  • A Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP)
  • About $100 in cash
  • A good-bye note, which read "You are the best Jessica! You've done so much for me, and I truly do love you. You will make an excellent psychologist or social worker someday! Don't forget about me! Love, Steven Kazmierczak." The note was printed using the free note service that accompanies Amazon.com packages.

[edit] Reaction

Urbana-Champaign counselors went to Northern Illinois University on February 15 to help with the investigation. Champaign police were working with DeKalb and Northern Illinois University officials as well.

Kazmierczak's father, Robert, spoke to reporters Friday from his home in Lakeland, Florida: "Please leave me alone. I have no statement to make and no comment, OK? I'd appreciate that. This is a very hard time. I'm a diabetic, and I don't want to go into a relapse," before breaking down, crying, and returning inside. The front door hangs a sign that reads "Illini fans live here."

Kazmierczak's sister, Susan, posted this message on the front door of her home in Urbana: "Our heartfelt prayers and deepest sympathies are extended to the families, victims, and all other persons involved in the NIU tragedy. We are both shocked and saddened. In addition to the loss of innocent lives, Steven was a member of our family. We are grieving his loss as well as the loss of life resulting from his actions. As a result of our family's extensive grief, we will not be making any additional statements to the news media. We respectfully request the media honor our family's wish and recognize our grief following this tragic event."

Chancellor Richard Herman and Illinois Student Senate President Jason Randall hosted a campus/community vigil for victims of the Northern Illinois University shootings on February 18 at 9 p.m. on the south patio of the Illini Union on the Quad. The university also created an NIU Condolences webpage on its website.

According to the announcement, "the memorial vigil will enable the campus community to express solidarity for our colleagues at Northern Illinois University. A threat to any campus community undermines the educational environment which we strive to protect. Our deepest condolences go out to the families of the victims of the tragedy at Northern Illinois University. We are especially saddened that a member of our campus community would commit such a violent and horrific act. We will come together not only to lament the losses that were suffered at Northern, but also to renew our commitment to ensuring an environment where students, faculty and staff can live, learn and work without being threatened by the rage and hostility of others."

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said, "If there is a way where this tragedy could have been anticipated, or stopped beforehand, we will find it." Blagojevich declared a state of emergency.

President George W. Bush asked Americans "to offer their blessings, blessings of comfort and blessings of strength."

Northern Illinois University planned to demolish Cole Hall in spring 2008. Whether its replacement is a memorial, a new hall or a combination of them has not yet been decided.

[edit] Coverage

Esquire magazine wrote a 12,400-word article in August 2008 on Kazmierczak and his background. Sources of the article included Kazmierczak's friends, his former girlfriend and a 1,500-page police file. The file included Kazmierczak's police reports, psychiatric evaluations and military records. The Northern Illinois University police lieutenant did not know how the file was released.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://www.uofiwiki.org/wiki/Steven_Kazmierczak"
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