“There has been a report of a possible gunman on campus.” Northern Illinois University (NIU) officials issued this campus alert at 3:20 p.m. the NIU website stated, and that students should “Get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all clear. Avoid the King Commons and all buildings in that vicinity.”
Shortly after 3 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, police officers responded to a call of a shooting in a lecture hall in Cole Hall at NIU. Police scanner reports at the time identified the shooter as a white male with a shotgun and pistol. Police established a perimeter around Cole Hall, and 15 to 20 emergency vehicles were quickly on site. Five students are dead and 16 others injured after the gunman opened fire. The shooter then killed himself. The injured were rushed to Kishwaukee Medical Center at the Kishwaukee Community Hospital.