| 2/14/2008 4:21:33 PM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
yankeeluvspeach
Athens, GA
age: 29
| You'll have to pardon me as I'm still kind of in a daze. Just got a phone call from an old friend that my Alma Mater, Northern Illinois University has become the latest news with ANOTHER??@$@ shooting! What's happening to our beautiful country?? Dekalb was a small, quiet town. How can this happen? Despite my heart's ache right now, I still want people to resist the urge to "arm up." Please, can't I appeal to the your sanity? What's getting into your head America? No matter how bad it gets, never go down this path again!! please!!! I've walked past Cole hall a thousand times. Even had quite a few classes there. If it can happen at a place like this...  We've GOT to start putting more money into mental health care, it's as simple as that. Please!! PLEASE!!
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| 2/14/2008 5:04:03 PM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
pamela0324
Pasadena, MD
age: 54
| Yankee, I can only imagine how you feel about today's news. Its a terrible story too often repeated.
I agree with your premise: We need to recognize mental illness and invest in the resources to help people BEFORE they reach the point of rage and seek vengeance.
No one can argue these people are healthy. No one. They are sick. I believe there are people in their lives who KNOW they are sick. People often have no idea where to turn with that knowledge and nothing is done before these crazy (sick) people hurt someone.
Mental illness is still treated shamefully in this country. So shamefully that people afflicted are ashamed to say they are having problems and need help.
Until we wake up and accept that there are people among us who are mentally ill - and they aren't gonna "SNAP OUT OF IT!" no matter how many times we yell it at them - and commit resources to help them, there will be more stories of crazy people with guns shooting up schools, offices, malls, etc.
Peace, Pam
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| 2/14/2008 7:39:53 PM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
oper8tor1
Dalzell, SC
age: 40
| Yankee, I don't mean to sound cold but, was NIU a no gun zone for students and faculty??
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| 2/15/2008 6:09:48 AM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
pamela0324
Pasadena, MD
age: 54
| Please, oper8tor, show a little class and a modicum of sensitivity.
This is a tragedy.
Pam
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| 2/15/2008 7:24:24 AM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
lookinaround73
Pensacola, FL
age: 34
| I agree it is a tragedy. No real way to describe it. But, like Oper8tor, I want to know if it is a "gun free" zone like VT was/is.
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| 2/15/2008 8:06:00 AM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
swiftfalcon
The Colony, TX
age: 50
| Another very sad incident to say the least. I have come across people that were deranged, scary and appeared to be very mentally unstable. We will find that this guy had a history or people around him knew he was not right but chose not to intervene or did not have the methods or means to do so. I am not trying to be of topic here but it’s all related. Some of these people need to be taken off the streets and out of society and housed in mental care lock up facilities. Seems every time efforts to make this happen it ends up in court as human rights violations. What about the rights of the rest of us that has to deal with these tragedies? We can all be as vigilant as possible but you’re just not going to stop something like this when there is a will for it. It happens too fast although an armed security guard or citizen could sure have at least had a chance at reducing the carnage. This could have just as easily happened by many other methods besides a gun so don’t start in on disarming the American people. Gun free zones mean nothing but easier access for the lunatic wanting to hurt people. It’s a silly idea that just makes more people vulnerable. The church in Colorado Springs was smart enough to have armed parishioners present during services. This preparation saved who knows how many lives that day.
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| 2/15/2008 8:19:03 AM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
lookinaround73
Pensacola, FL
age: 34
| I agree Swift. You never hear of somebody opening fire in a pawn shop or a gun show.
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| 2/15/2008 9:56:15 AM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
lookinaround73
Pensacola, FL
age: 34
| Confirmed….it was/is a "gun free" zone. If that a**hole had known that half the people on campus were armed there is a good chance there would be zero dead. Tragic.
http://www.kxmb.com/News/Nation/209747.asp
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| 2/15/2008 12:50:11 PM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
1pinkstar
Omaha, NE
age: 54
| Yankee: I agree with you 110%, sorry it hit your Alma Mater. My brother in law also went to school there. He's in shock too. Just like we were here in NE when the Von Maur shootings happened.
When oh when is there going to be more help for the mentally ill?
Think of the damage that untreated mental illness brings to our society. Individuals suffer, of course, but so do communities and, more broadly, taxpayers who bear the cost of incarcerating those whose mental illness is a factor in their criminal behavior.
Mental illness isn’t a crime, but the way we treat — or don’t treat — the mentally ill is. Or should be.  If society were to accept what science has to say about mental illness, it would undermine the rationale for ignoring the biggest public health problem in America.
Lookinround: in Omaha there was a recent shooting in a pawnshop. The owner of the pawnshop and the burglars had a gun battle.
[Edited 2/15/2008 12:52:02 PM]
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| 2/15/2008 3:36:59 PM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
pamela0324
Pasadena, MD
age: 54
| The number one provider of mental health services in the USA: jails.
There is no help available for most of these people until after they hurt others or themselves.
Very screwed up priorities in this country, if you ask me.
The NIU shooter was bright, accomplished, and .....troubled. And no criminal history.
Gun fights on campuses, in malls, in churches, in public squares, in office buildings, in government offices, ... are NOT welcome. Armed citizens will NOT stop these tragedies.
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| 2/15/2008 4:36:23 PM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
mbk1961
Farmington, IL
age: 47
| This is close to my home too. NIU is just to the north of me. Although I didn't know any of the victims, I would like to ask for some respect. This is a thread to honor the lost, not a place for you to air your complaints. God bless the lost, and may it never happen again.
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| 2/15/2008 5:32:03 PM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
swiftfalcon
The Colony, TX
age: 50
| Looks like he was on some kind of psychiatric drug and went off of it a couple of weeks ago and became “erratic”. Maybe the drugs are the problem? The doctors pass them out like candy these days.
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| 2/15/2008 9:51:29 PM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
1pinkstar
Omaha, NE
age: 54
| Swift: maybe not taking the prescribed drugs was the problem.
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| 2/15/2008 10:14:40 PM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
swiftfalcon
The Colony, TX
age: 50
| What ever the doctor says has is the norm. I think we have a problem? With the drugs!
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| 2/15/2008 10:41:15 PM | NIU Too Close to Home | |
edawg2
Knoxville, TN
age: 59
| Noticed post. And I'm not proud that I posted on a similar topic several weeks ago about "its just a matter of time till another..." That's WAS NOT a happy post and this IS NOT a I told you so entry. But folks, look at where these things are happening, the events, the ending, the backgrounds of these shooters, the environments, etc. There is just too much that is hauntingly similar. You don't even have to predict them anymore its so certain. We have a real problem here and have to look everywhere for answers. Being an educator, I stop and think everytime I hear about this stuff and it really hits home if its middle/high school. Any where, anytime. I've spent decades teaching and am really pissed that this shooting crap happens in educational settings with all its other problems. And we don't have answers-thats obvious. We have to find the cause-we can't let this stuff keep happening! God bless all the people caught up in these horrible things.
One thing you can do that might shed some light. Authorities are guardedly secret to NOT identifying the meds, antidepressants, involved in these things. Why? Is there a common drug involved? Worried about HIPPA laws vs the public's right and need to know? (the public's right here trumps any privacy concerns. Some Big Pharma exec somewhere worrying about the quarterly income statement? This is one area where the profit motive is pure evil. Find out all you can about what drugs were involved and if you luck into any real info, post the hell out of it. You might save a lot of people some real sorrow and tragedy.
[Edited 2/15/2008 10:49:54 PM]
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