Gunfire at Northern Illinois University
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris. Yes, good morning on this Friday. I'm Betty Nguyen in for Heidi Collins.</s>BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it is Friday, February 15th, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM and here is what is on the rundown. Who opened fire at Northern Illinois University and, the big question, why? We fill in the blanks with our correspondent, eyewitnesses and live briefings.</s>HARRIS: Six people dead at NIU, each has a family and a story. We will take a look.</s>NGUYEN: Plus, the House gets out of town with a key intelligence law about to expire. What does it mean for you and the war on terror? Well, our guests will tell us right here in the</s>NEWSROOM. HARRIS: We are standing by, just moments away from a statement by President Bush after meeting with GOP leaders this morning about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. We understand the president will also make some comments about the shooting at Northern Illinois University. Let's listen to the president.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ...Northern Illinois University. I've told the president that a lot of folks today will be praying for the families of the victims and for the Northern Illinois University community. Obviously, a tragic situation on that campus, and I asked our fellow citizens to offer their blessings, blessings of comfort and blessings of strength. We also discussed a serious problem facing our country and that is, the fact that House leaders blocked a good piece of legislation that would give our intelligence community the tools they need to protect America from a terrorist attack. American citizens must understand -- clearly understand, that there's still a threat on the homeland. There's still an enemy, which would like to do us harm and that we've got to give our professionals the tools they need to be able to figure out what the enemy is up to so that we can stop it. The Senate passed a good bipartisan bill that makes sure intelligence community has the tools necessary to protect America from this real threat, and I want to thank you all, and thank you, Democrats in the United States Senate who worked closely with Mitch and John to get a strong piece of legislation with a 68-vote majority out of the Senate. This bill comes to the House of Representatives, and it was blocked, and by blocking this piece of legislation, our country is more endangered of an attack. By not giving the professionals the tools they need, it's going to be a lot harder to do the job we need to build a safer America, people saying, oh, it doesn't matter if this law isn't -- been renewed. It does matter. It matters for a variety of reasons. It matters because the intelligence officials won't have tools necessary to get as much information as we possibly can to protect you. And it matters because these telephone companies, that work collaboratively with us to protect the American people, are afraid they're going to get sued. And the American people don't understand, these lawsuits make it harder for us to convince people to help protect you. And so by blocking this good piece of legislation, you know, our professionals tell me that they don't have all the tools they need to do their job. And so now the House and Senate are off on a 12-day recess without getting the people's business done. When they come back from that 12-day recess, the House leaders must understand that the decision they make to block good legislation has made it harder for us to protect you, the American people, and we expect them to get a good bill to my desk, which is the Senate bill, as soon as possible. Thank you.</s>HARRIS: The president making several comments there, obviously, about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. We will dissect that a little bit later, but the president also asking more pertinent at this hour, at the top of this news cast, the president asking that the country pray for the families of the victims of the shooting rampage, really, at Northern Illinois University. It is our top story. A killer's rampage on an American campus. The death toll grows at Northern Illinois University. Here are the latest developments at this hour. The gunman shot 21 people. Six of them have died. The gunman is also dead after shooting himself. He has not yet been identified, but NIU says he was a former graduate student. We're expecting more details this morning. One of the major questions, why? The school has scheduled a new conference next hour. The hospital will follow at noon Eastern. We will carry both live. CNN crews have fanned out to bring you all the angles of this developing story. Don Lemon is on the NIU campus, Ed Lavandera is at the hospital where victims were taken, and Brianna Keilar is on the campus of Virginia Tech. She will look at the tragic lessons learned from that school's shooting spree just 10 months ago.</s>NGUYEN: But first, to the scene of the crime, Northern Illinois University, and CNN's Don Lemon was dispatched there yesterday, just after we learned of the shootings. He joins us from the campus. Don, what more are we hearing about the person who did this? Have you been able to find any answers?</s>DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know who he is and they know his name, Betty, but they're not releasing it until they do some further testing of his body, making sure that everyone in this case is notified. Again, as you said, he is a 27-year-old former student, by all accounts, a good student, at one point got the dean's award for his work in sociology, which adds to the mystery about why he would do something like this.</s>LEMON (voice over): The carnage started just after 3:00. About 100 students were in a lecture hall for a geology class when witnesses say a man dressed in black came out from behind the curtain onstage and opened fire with a shotgun.</s>ZACH SEWARD, STUDENT: I turned and I ran for the door. On my way out I heard a couple more shots go off. I wasn't sure if one of them was going to hit me in the back.</s>LEMON: Witnesses say the shooting was rapid fire and indiscriminate. Some say as many as 30 rounds. The chaos quickly spread outside, where students panicked and ran for cover.</s>ROSIE MORONI, STUDENT: As soon as I heard people screaming and running, they came out running, called 911, he has a gun and I just took off.</s>LEMON: Minutes after the shooting started at 3:03, police were already on the scene and inside the lecture hall. At 3:07, a campus lockdown was declared and alerts were sent out through e-mail, voice- mail and the local media. At 3:20, a more specific alert goes out warning that a gunman is on campus. Students and staff are told to stay put. Forty minutes later, at 4:00, the gunman is reported to be dead. Authorities say he killed himself soon after the shooting began.</s>CHIEF DONALD GRADY, NIU POLICE: We anticipate that this thing started and ended within a matter of seconds.</s>LEMON: And at 4:14, an hour and 15 minutes after the first shot, campus police declared the scene secure and the threat over.</s>LEMON: And we're told by campus officials that thousands of people go in and out of this auditorium every day. This Cole auditorium, in and out of that area, about 100 students in the classroom at the time. They see, they're in their normal class, someone walk through a door with a shotgun and two other weapons, a Glock and another smaller caliber handgun, and then the chaos ensued. One of those students inside of the classroom is joining me now. His name is George Gaynor, and George, you were in the back. Step over just a little bit closer to me. You were in the back of the classroom at the time. You got direct look right at this gunman?</s>GEORGE GAYNOR, NIU STUDENT: That's correct.</s>LEMON: Tell me, tell me what happened. What did you see? Did you look into his eyes?</s>GAYNOR: I couldn't see his eyes from where I was sitting. But when I looked up, and I saw him enter the room, he just walked in. No expression on this face, but it seemed like he had intentions to what he was going to do, and I didn't know what to think when it happened.</s>LEMON: I've spoken to some folks about the sound. They said they could hear him, when he cocked that rifle, the clicking of that, and then the boom of the explosions from shooting off that rifle. What did you hear when that all happened?</s>GAYNOR: It's -- as soon as I saw that, heard -- saw the gun fire and heard that boom, I was just in shock at what was going on and I feared for my life.</s>LEMON: Some people didn't think it was real in the beginning. They thought it was stamped. But you -- did you think that? Or you thought it was very real? You knew right away?</s>GAYNOR: When he first walked in, I didn't understand what was going on. I didn't understand if this was real or what was happening until the gun actually went off. And everyone just started screaming.</s>LEMON: Yes. Did you see anyone get shot or did you run?</s>GAYNOR: After that shot was fired I didn't turn to look to see if anyone was hurt. I just got out of there as fast as I could to protect my own life.</s>LEMON: Yes. What were guys saying to the other students? Have you spoken to other students there? Did you guys just kind of scatter or...</s>GAYNOR: There's a lot of scattering and the people I was running down the sidewalk with came away from the hall. We were just asking ourselves, is this for real? Did this really just happen? And we're just all trying to piece this together, and everyone was calling 911, hoping, trying to get hold of the police. And we thank them for their prompt response to this.</s>LEMON: Several of the students I've spoken to today, this morning say they didn't get any sleep all night. They're living on coffee and caffeine and adrenaline. They couldn't -- as a matter of fact, they couldn't go to sleep because it's all in their head right now.</s>GAYNOR: Yes. It's been very difficult for myself just trying to get any sleep. As soon as I close my eyes trying to get to sleep, all I hear is that gun blast. It just keeps recurring.</s>LEMON: Did you know any of the people who were hurt or who died in this?</s>GAYNOR: Unfortunately I did not know anybody personally, but I do feel very bad for them and I just send my thoughts and prayers and for them.</s>LEMON: Yes. All right. George Gaynor, thank you and we're glad that you could join us and we know that -- what you're going through. I asked one of the other students if they would feel safe again going to school here. Do you feel safe?</s>GAYNOR: I still feel relatively safe, yes, and based on the police response at this incident, I do feel that we have adequate security at this campus.</s>LEMON: OK.</s>GAYNOR: This is just a nice - isolated incident that just went very bad.</s>LEMON: Well, George, thank you very much for that. And then coming up in -- at 10:00 Eastern, 9:00 local time here, we're expecting a briefing, Betty, from school officials, including the president whom he interviewed earlier live on "AMERICAN MORNING." And he said that he was pleased with the response but, obviously, not pleased with what happened on this campus yesterday.</s>NGUYEN: Yes. We should learn more during that new conference. Of course, we'll bring that to you live. But Don, let me ask you this very quickly. Are you hearing anything on the ground...</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>NGUYEN: ...as to why? That's the big question. Was there a note left? Did the shooter have in kind of a history?</s>LEMON: And you know what, Betty? You'd remember, you and I were sitting on the anchor desk when the Virginia Tech shooting happen and started hearing about this Seung Cho Hui and about, you know, some of the signs he exhibited and some of the videotapes that he had left behind. But this particular person, nothing. Everyone -- as a matter of fact, one of the school officials said it if there was a list -- if we had a list of people who might do something like this, that this person would be at the bottom of that list. Good student, was awarded by the university. No criminal history. So at this point, no one knows why.</s>NGUYEN: Yes. And in fact, he's a former student as well. And big question is why did he come back on campus?</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>NGUYEN: All right. Don Lemon, we will be talking with you shortly. Thank you, Don. And we are expecting to learn much more about the shooter and the victims throughout the morning. The school has scheduled a new conference for 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific. A briefing by hospital workers, that will follow. That's at noon Eastern, and we will carry both live right here on</s>CNN. HARRIS: One was just 19, another in her 30s. We have learned the names of four of the people killed in the Northern Illinois University shooting. And let me apologize ahead of time. We don't have firm pronouncers on these names, will do the best we can. They are identified as 20-year-old Daniel Parmenter of Westchester, Illinois, Catalina Garcia, 20 years old, of Cicero, Illinois, Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville, Illinois, and 32-year- old Julianna Gehant of Meriden, Illinois. We don't have the names of the other two people killed just yet. We should learn more about the wounded during a hospital new conference in about three hours. Several victims are in critical condition this morning. Ed Lavandera is at the community hospital there in Dekalb. And Ed, what are you hearing from the doctors who treated the victims?</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just spoke with the director of the emergency room who was on duty yesterday afternoon when the first calls of this shooting came in to the hospital, and he said within moments, a code alert disaster had gone out to the hospital. Some close to some two dozen surgeons, physicians, radiologists and all types of medical staff descending on the emergency room to help out in this situation. In the end, there were about six students that remain in critical condition. They had to be quickly taken, stabilized and quickly taken away from this hospital so their treatment could continue throughout the night.</s>DR. MICHAEL KULISZ, KISHWAUKEE COMMUNITY HOSPITAL: We mobilized the trauma pod, which would be Rockford. We sent two -- patients to two facilities in Rockford as well as these two here, which is Good Samaritan Hospital. So everybody was on a higher level so they knew that they were going to receive that many patients.</s>LAVANDERA: So there were six of seven of those students that had to be taken away here -- out of here from this hospital so that they can continue their critical, intensive care that they needed in other area hospitals. So throughout the region it has been a busy night. Doctors working throughout the night to try to save these students' lives and they say they continue to work on them. There are some good news in some other cases. Several other students are in fair and good condition and several others, as well, have been released -- Tony?</s>HARRIS: OK. And Ed, you know, very quickly, we're still working through pronouncers on the names of the victims. I'm just sort of curious about the name of that hospital because I'm sure we'll be mentioning it a lot over the next few days. Is it Kishwaukee Community Hospital there?</s>LAVANDERA: Kishwaukee Community Hospital. You're right.</s>HARRIS: OK. Ed Lavandera for us. Appreciate it. Thank you.</s>NGUYEN: A return to Virginia Tech. Did the tragedy in Blacksburg help save lives in Illinois? Live from the Virginia Tech campus as our coverage of the campus rampage continues in just a moment.</s>ANNOUNCER: CNN NEWSROOM brought to you by...