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DEKALB, Illinois (CNN) — The gunman in Thursday’s shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University has been identified as Steven P. Kazmierczak of Champaign, Illinois.

Kazmierczak opened fire on a geology class Thursday, shooting 21 people before turning the gun on himself. Five people were killed in addition to the shooter.The DeKalb County coroner’s office identified four of the victims, all Illinois residents: Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; and Julianna Gehant, 32, of Meriden.

The fifth victim, Gayle Dubowski, 20, of Carol Stream, Illinois, died at a hospital in Rockford and was identified by Winnebago County authorities.

The coroner earlier had said six people died in addition to the shooter but amended the death toll Friday morning.

Authorities in Polk County, Florida said police in Illinois had them question the man’s father, Robert Kazmierczak of Lakeland, Florida.

University President John Peters said the gunman was a former graduate student who had a good record as an undergraduate, receiving a degree in sociology at the school in 2006.

A preliminary investigation has not uncovered a police record on the gunman, and records showed he had no contact with university police while a student there, Peters said.

“There’s no indication that there was any trouble,” Peters said. Watch as the university president assesses the situation »

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The Chicago Tribune reported that the school honored the gunman two years ago for his research on the U.S. prison system, including a study of self-inflicted wounds among prisoners. He was a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Tribune reported.

President Bush on Friday morning asked Americans “to offer their blessings — blessings of comfort and blessings of strength” to the community at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, about 65 miles west of downtown Chicago.

Kazmierczak used a shotgun hidden in a guitar case and three handguns hidden under a coat, university Police Chief Donald Grady said Friday.

Grady said authorities do not yet know of a motive.

A spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that two of the weapons were legally purchased February 9 from a dealer in Champaign. The bureau was still tracing the other two weapons used in the attack.

An FBI spokesman said bureau agents would assist as well.

All classes and events on the university campus were canceled until further notice. Dormitories remained open to house and feed students.

“I know what’s happened, but I don’t want to believe it,” said Stefanie Miller, who saw two of her friends die in the Cole Hall shooting. Watch the shocked student ask for prayers »

Miller said the gunman came out from behind a curtain and opened fire, sending people screaming, running, and in many cases falling to the ground. It was like “a scene from a movie,” she said.

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

Late Thursday, dozens of students gathered on campus for a candlelight prayer vigil. Video footage showed students comforting one another and a young man playing guitar. Watch students gather and pray »

Seven counseling areas were set up, and hotlines were established.

Senior Daley Hamilton, 21, said most students were heading home to their parents. “My parking lot at my apartment is pretty sparse,” she said.

She said she and her roommate were planning to leave Friday. “We are really on edge and just kind of want to get out,” she said.

Tributes also were surfacing online. A Facebook community called “Pray for Northern Illinois University Students and Families” had more than 34,000 members by Friday morning.

Gunman ‘just started shooting’

About 160 students were registered in the class that met in the large lecture hall.

Kevin McEnery said he was in the classroom when the gunman, dressed in a black shirt, dark pants and black hat, burst in carrying a shotgun. See photos of the scene »

“He just kicked the door open, just started shooting,” McEnery said. “All I really heard was just people screaming, yelling ‘get out.’ … Close to 30 shots were fired.” Watch a student describe the chaos »

At 3:03 p.m. CT, university police responded, and four minutes later, the campus was ordered into “a lockdown situation,” said Grady, the police chief.

At 3:20, an all-campus alert went out via the school Web site, e-mail, voice mail, the campus crisis hotline, the news media and alarm systems, he said.

“The message basically was: There’s a gunman on campus, stay where you are; make yourself as safe as possible,” he said.

Student Rosie Moroni said she was outside Cole Hall near the King Commons when she heard shots coming from the classroom.

The shots were followed by “a lot of people screaming,” then people ran out the doors yelling, “He’s got a gun, call 911,” she recalled.

By 4 p.m., DeKalb police had swept the area “and determined there was only one gunman” and that he was dead.

“It was absolutely a marvelous response” by campus safety authorities, Grady said.

Security around campus was increased in December when police found threats scrawled on a campus bathroom wall that included racial slurs and references to last April’s Virginia Tech shootings. Learn about other recent school shootings »

Peters and Grady said no evidence points to a link between the December incident and Thursday’s shooting.

The university revised its emergency procedures after the Virginia Tech massacre, Peters said.

“I believe that paid off,” he said. “That’s really a sad thing to say, that you have to learn from an event like that, but we knew how we wanted to communicate and we sort of had some messages prearranged, and we got out there fairly quickly.”

He said the shooting could force further changes.

“Universities for decades, for hundreds of years, have been open institutions — the most open institutions,” he said. “And events like this and Virginia Tech and others are forcing us to reconsider how we do things. I think that is unfortunate but necessary.”

Eighteen victims were taken to Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb, the hospital Web site said.

Of those, seven were in critical condition and were flown to other hospitals. One fatality, a male, was confirmed — but was not the gunman, the hospital said. Two were admitted, and eight others were discharged. Watch how the victims were handled »

 

Nate Llewellyn, a spokesman for Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, said it had received two female patients and one male: Nineteen-year-old Unnum Rahman was in serious condition after receiving gunshot wounds to her right eye and arm; Maria Ruiz Santana was in critical condition; and an unidentified male was in critical condition. All three required surgery, he said.

The 113-year-old school has an enrollment of more than 25,000. The campus covers 755 acres. E-mail to a friend

CNN’s Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.

Paramedics rush a victim to a waiting ambulance following a shooting at Northern Illinois University.

more photos »

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.