Ledger -- who was found dead in his New York apartment two weeks ago -- died of acute intoxication, city authorities said, ruling the death an accident resulting from the abuse of prescription medications. (
Posted on 02/15/2008 10:25:01 AM PST by Cagey
Northern Illinois University police said the gunman in Thursday's campus shootings had stopped taking prescribed medications and had begun acting erratically in the days before he walked into a science lecture and opened fire.
Police said the suspect identified as 27-year-old former student Stephen Kazmierczak killed five students, wounded at least 15 others and then killed himself.
It was reported that a sixth student had died Friday morning, but Coroner Rusty Miller told the media that there was a communication error between his office and the hospital.
About The Shooter
Police have yet to uncover a motive. Kazmierczak was an NIU graduate student in sociology in the spring of 2007, but was not currently enrolled, according to a release on the school's Web site.
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 an outstanding student. An awarded student," said NIU Police Chief Donald Grady. "Those he had communication with felt he was a very good student and a fairly normal, unstressed person."
Grady said that Kazmierczak was a graduate student in social work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Kazmierczak was taking some kind of medication, Grady said, but declined to name the drug or provide other details.
"He had stopped taking medication and become somewhat erratic in the last couple of weeks," Grady said.
Kazmierczak had four weapons with him when he entered the lecture hall, according to Kevin Cronin of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives: a Remington 12-gauge shotgun, a Glock 9mm pistol, Sig Sauer pistol and High Point 380 pistol.
Cronin said that the shotgun and Glock were purchased legally at a gun shop in Champaign, Ill., on Feb. 9. Traces were being conducted on the other two guns.
University President John G. Peters said officials believe the shooter had no criminal record and had not been in contact with police prior to the shooting.
Scene Of The Shooting
Kazmierczak opened fire around 3 p.m. in an oceanography class inside an auditorium in Cole Hall. Police said the shooter did not fire all the ammunition he possessed.
Kazmierczak shot himself on the stage after a rampage that lasted just a few minutes and sent terrified students screaming, crying and running for the doors.
Journalism major Desiree Smith was at the back of the hall when the gunman opened fire. She said she dropped to the floor and kept telling herself, "Oh God, he's going to shoot me. Oh God, I'm dead."
Authorities don't know if the gunman targeted specific people or just shot at random.
Police said when the shooting was reported, officers were at the scene in "less than two minutes."
Victims Mourned
The students killed have been identified as: Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester, Ill.; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero, Ill.; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville, Ill.; Gayle Dubowski, 20, of Carol Stream, Ill.; and Julianna Gehant, 32, of Meridan, Ill.
All of those shot were students, Peters said, including a graduate teaching assistant who was the class instructor and who was not killed.
More than 100 students cried and hugged as they held a candlelight vigil outside a fraternity house to mourn a sophomore who was among those killed.
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their families," Peters said Thursday night. "We thank the community for the outpouring of sympathy during this terrible time of tragedy."
Peters urged students to remain calm and seek counseling.
"We've asked them to reach out to each other during this difficult time, and they've done that," Peters said. "And I'm proud of them."
The NIU Department of Public Safety is asking that any individuals who witnessed the Feb. 14 shooting, or who believe they have any information related to the shooting, call the University Tip Line at 815-753-TIPS. Police will return calls as soon as possible.
"I'm so please as we've seen our students and staff come together and deal with this tragedy," he said.
The NIU campus in DeKalb, about 60 miles west of Chicago, is closed Friday
Wow, this really has me wanting to know what the medication was that would cause this change in behaviour?
Mark Fuhrman was right! He was on Gibson’s show yesterday saying it would turn it out that the shooter was on some kind of meds.
NOW do you see why I told you to stay on your meds????
I don’t know what good those meds do. I had a business partner freak out on Prozac.
It could be any of about 3 dozen psychotropic meds from Abilify to Zyprexa and all those in between.
For every bad story you see or hear about, there’s about 1000 cases of lives made better. Before these meds existed, things were far worse for these folks.
Because guns make people “feel” unsafe.
My daughter was just diagnosed with a seizure disorder and has been put on seizure medication.
After being on seizure medication and seizure free, the doctors try to get you off the medication. If my daughter is seizure free for 2 years, then we’ll try to get her off the medication.
Going on and off seizure can be very tricky. Going off seizure medication can bring on seizures, and some seizures are very psychological in nature.
The first seizure medication my daughter went on made her go crazy. We had to switch her off of it, but it took 3 months to switch her off of it. Now, she is doing great on the medication.
Of course, there are all the drugs for mental illness and even ritalin that maybe going off of them would make someone have a mental breakdown.
Maybe he just wasn’t “himself” when off the meds. Which is another way of saying when he truly was “himself” he should have been locked up. Ritalin? Probably anti-depressants.
There are lots of anti-depressant drugs that alter a persons behavior , especially if they quit taking them suddenly. I keep saying, and I hope someone is listening, that when a person has a problem and they go to a Doctor with the problem, the Doctor prescribes a pill, and the patient has no idea about the side effects of the medicine.
My father-in-law was in his late 80s when the doctor gave him Zoloft, he tripped out hallucinating.. It was bizarre to say the least.
I just see how much good psych meds do on a daily basis....I also know that the biggest problem faced is continued compliance after D/C.
You start feeling better, more normal....you don’t need the meds anymore....
WRONG!!!
I know a guy that was on Prozac, and during that period, he talked constantly of killing himself.
Gun free zone alert
Just remember, if you’re in a “gun free zone,” you’re in reality in a nut-job magnet venue. Every nut-job out there knows they can create a lot of mayhem in such a safe and secure place. Safe and secure for them that is.
On the other hand, stupid people like me enjoy the fact that three of my neighbors are gun owners, one with a CHL. Crime rate in my gun owning, CHL having crazy Texas town of Plano Texas? 1/4 the US national average and lower than any major city tht has highly restrictive laws on gun ownership like NY. http://plano.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm
But to the politicians, the deans of these schools, the school boards, and Congressmen passing such great legislation as “gun free zones,” don’t mind the details. What’s important is that you make grandiose speeches that make reference the “the children” often.
Just ask yourself this, where is it safer, where your 61 year old neighbor shoots the robbers, or in a “gun free zone?” http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/17/national/main3517564.shtml?source=mostpop_story
Someone once said, if you outlaw or restrict guns only the bad guys end up having them. But that statement is silly, right?
Carolyn
I am betting on Prozac or the generic.
AWD for my Acadia. It is very comfortable and nice to drive.
Fasten your seat belts folks, the anti-gunners are once again exploiting a campus tragedy to further their confiscatory agenda.
Statement dated Friday 15 Feb 08 by Carolyn McCarthy D-NY
“Yesterday, tragedy again struck our schools. Former NIU student Steven Kazmierczak opened fire in a classroom killing seven and wounding fifteen. His motives are still unknown.
How many more school shootings will this country have to witness before we change our view on firearms? With each day we do nothing, more lives are put at risk from needless gun violence.
Last month, President Bush signed the NICS Improvement Act into law. While this is a good step, we must do more to stop the increasing acts of gun violence at our nation’s colleges and universities.
My heart goes out to the victims and their families in their time of need. Let us join together to prevent other families from experiencing this type of terrible tragedy.”
Statement dated Friday 15 Feb 08 by Barack Obama D-IL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Michael Ortiz, 202 228 5566
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement on the shooting at Northern Illinois University:
“Yesterday, twenty-two men and women were shot, and six were killed, when a madman walked into a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and opened fire.
“We hear about heartbreaking, mindless acts of violence like this day after day, week after week. They come in and out of the headlines, and after awhile, most of the world goes on. But for all the loved ones who are left behind, the pain and the sorrow remain for a very, very long time. Today we offer them our prayers, but we must also offer them our determination to do whatever it takes to eradicate this violence from our streets and our schools; from our neighborhoods and our cities. That is our duty as Americans, and that is our solemn obligation as mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, neighbors and friends.
“Michelle and I offer our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims. They will be in our prayers.”
ed. “eradicate this violence” = outlaw semiautomatic weapons
And, when they mix it with booze..... Fred Thompson’s daughter died of an overdose of her psycho drugs.
I have a relative who has seizures, and they put her on a medication to stop them, and she gained weight and became sucidal, fortunately she survived, and now has lost the weight, and is stable, but still has the seizures.
Gee...who would guess that he had been on some kind of anti-depressant or ADD drugs??? /sarcasm alert!!
Ledger -- who was found dead in his New York apartment two weeks ago -- died of acute intoxication, city authorities said, ruling the death an accident resulting from the abuse of prescription medications. (
since the predictable media opinion pieces are coming, here we go with the reply...
1. You could get a simple license from the State for a nominal fee and only have to take a test that any idiot could pass. You’d only have to renew it every 10 years for 40 years and maybe retake the test if you move out of state.
2. You could kill and injure people with your gun while drunk and still have your lawyer get your gun back because you need it for work.
3. You’d have half the tax burden of the county and State dedicated to improving the shooting ranges and facilities. The public agrees this is never good enough to suit them and with all the gunowners from California moving in, the range capacity will never catch up. Lines at the range are always shown on TV with the newsies deploring the crowding.
4. You could carry in any State at any time because carry and possession of your gun is honored nationwide and is considered a basic American civil right.
5. You would see commercials on TV pushing the newest, latest guns which you could lease for just $25 per month subject to the fine print.
6. You could finance a fancier gun than you can really afford by taking a 5 year loan with approved credit.
7. You would have a gun safe built into every house. In the upscale houses you would have 3 gun safes. Inexpensive houses and mobile homes would just have a gunrack by the door.
8. You’d have gun storage lockers at the shopping mall in which to store your rifle while shopping. This in order to free your arms for packages. The convenience of the shopper is paramount.
9. You could buy ammunition at the 7-11.
Full-service station means they’ll reload your magazines for you.
10. The news would stop reporting gun accidents unless more than 10 children were killed at one time. Onesy-twosey would only be notable in small towns or if Princess Di’s bodyguard shot her while aiming at paparazzi.
11. If the price of ammunition rose 20% the Federal Government would release war reserves of ammo to bring the price back down to the consumer’s comfort level.
more here:
http://www.mcsm.org/guncars.html
You have to be sensible and work with your psychiatrist.
A family member who was depressed tried several SSRI’s and couldn’t take them because they gave her severe anxiety. She kept working with the Head doc and finally got on Wellbutrin which has done wonders for her without the anxiety. I mean, she is a different person. I really hope she can continue to take it.
But for the people... example, bipolar ... bipolars are really hard to work with because they love the highs. The meds settle them down and help with the lows but they miss the highs.
Never knew one who didn’t decide to go off the meds... sometimes learned their lesson and went back on.
Also it takes a long time to safely get off some of these meds. You don’t just stop taking them.
People really need to be sensible about their health but that’s like asking a depressed person to cheer up.
I read all Heath Ledger’s drugs were legal,too.
A free society will always have the problem of nut cases.
Some even run for office.
I’ve both been on medication and known people with serious emotional and psychiatric problems, and I have seen what properly prescribed and used medications can do, and I am not talking about anti-depressants.
Thanks for posting this update.
Here in Beverly Hills a few years back, idiots were putting their DOGS on Prozac. There was an Iside Edition, I think story on it called, “Pups On Prozac.”
It's the underlying illness that's the problem.
Maybe he just wasn’t “himself” when off the meds. Which is another way of saying when he truly was “himself” he should have been locked up. Ritalin? Probably anti-depressants
Maybe anti-psycotic drugs. Worked with a girl who went off her meds and started threatening everyone. She was fired. Good thing she didn’t come back to punish us.
In Illinois, only the criminals carry concealed.
graduate student in sociology
It's been a couple decades since my college days (where I never took a sociology class), but I bet my impression of the political mixture of that field hasn't changed. Are there any right wing sociology grad students?
“A lot of Death and Mayhem for two minutes.
Somebody want to explain to me again why teachers and/or students are not allow to carry concealed?”
Because here in The Peoples Republik of Illinois there are laws that protect us against gun owners and their evil CCW permits.
Hence, we have no gun crimes... /sarcasm
The brother of a friend of mine was paranoiac / schizophrenic and he hated to take his meds because it made him feel normal. He felt powerful when he was off but, he also talked to potted plants too. She had a hard time keeping him in an apartment because of him off his meds. It was very sad.
They now have injectable, time released meds that last for 28 days. We see the same problems. Folks who feel better off their meds when they’re Jesus and can fly.
Are they putting her on another medication? Seizures are very dangerous and can either cause permanent brain damage or death.
I hope she finds a medication that will help control the seizures and make her feel okay.
That’s my big complaint about our neurologist. He said that the anti-seizure medication he prescribed our daughter didn’t have many side effects. She started acting strange after her seizure, and I wasn’t sure if she had more brain damage or it was the meds. I did a lot of research and found lots of people with similar side effects as my daughter.
I think doctors need to be up front about what negative side effects to be looking for.
They now have injectable, time released meds that last for 28 days. We see the same problems. Folks who feel better off their meds when they’re Jesus and can fly.
Exactly.
Would not be suprising if he got off his meds because of a breakup in a relationship. Plus planning this shooting on Valentine’s Day for that same possible reason.
There will be pressure now to legalize CCW.
There he goes again, ( Sen. Obama), pandering during a tragic time.
But as long as he was on Prozac, he was too passive to act upon his urges.
If he suddenly came off the drug, and he was still suicidal, and now was not being chemically restrained from acting on these impulses, guess what happens?
My daughter goes to a college where there is a long history of hunting. There are pictures of some of her classmates catching a class while in full hunting gear. Those boys, for they are all boys who hunt AFAIK keep that campus safe.
No...she is not taking medication now, she is almost 50, and she does not drive a car, and does not work outside the house. It has been debilitating for her.
Well, guns DO work, instopping a nutcase likie this.
I hope she can find a neurologist that can find some medication that can help her without the serious side effects.
I know there are new treatments, and I pray something helps her.
We’re hoping that my daughter grows out of the seizures. They think puberty brought them on, and the neurologist is hoping that when she’s an adult the seizures will stop.
Worse yet, most get elected.
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