Free Republic

As the SEPTA subway train rocked forward, a thirty-something guy leaned over near the doorway and gently planted a kiss on the little boy at his side. When the train neared the Fairmount Avenue stop shortly after midnight on Thursday, the man reached out like an adoring parent and directed the 3- or 4-year-old tyke to an open seat. Then he flew into a monstrous rage. Without uttering a word, police said, the unidentified man whipped out a double-claw hammer and began bludgeoning a 20-year-old man who was dozing off in his seat. For five long minutes, SEPTA surveillance cameras...

As the SEPTA subway train rocked forward, a thirty-something guy leaned over near the doorway and gently planted a kiss on the little boy at his side. When the train neared the Fairmount Avenue stop shortly after midnight on Thursday, the man reached out like an adoring parent and directed the 3- or 4-year-old tyke to an open seat. Then he flew into a monstrous rage. Without uttering a word, police said, the unidentified man whipped out a double-claw hammer and began bludgeoning a 20-year-old man who was dozing off in his seat. For five long minutes, SEPTA surveillance cameras...

I met Steve Kazmierczak in an introductory political science class in 2002 as a freshman in college. He was inquisitive, smart, respectful and nice. But now I find myself wondering if I ever knew Steve, the man who shot and killed five people and then himself in a lecture hall at my alma mater, Northern Illinois University. I found out about the shooting through a text message from a friend. A shiver went through my body when I called him for more details. As soon as I could, I ran to the nearest computer with Internet service and scoured the...