7/14/2023 0 Comments Elk grove high school shootingKazmierczak shared the apartment with a woman, said his neighbors, who assumed she was his wife. “It gives you a false sense of security,” said Defin, 30, who lives with his wife. Luis Defin, who lives in an apartment across the hall, said he didn’t notice anything unusual. “The only thing I’d (say) would be, ‘Hi,’ and then keep on going,” said Maurice Darling, 80, who lived next door to Kazmierczak in a Champaign apartment complex. He also served as vice president of NIU’s criminal justice association chapter and even taught a class at Cole Hall, where the massacre took place.Īt the University of Illinois in Champaign, his neighbors described him as reclusive. He wrote the papers under the guidance ofĬriminal-justice expert Jim Thomas, an NIU professor emeritus and DeKalb resident. He coauthored works on self-injury in prison and the role of religion in the formation of early U.S. NIU officials were stunned after the attack because Stephen Kazmierczak was highly regarded. I remember once they told me the boy was on medication, but I don’t remember for what.” I remember the boy and girl when they were little. “Holy cow,” Tomaso said upon learning Stephen was the shooter at NIU Thursday. Their next-door neighbor, Anthony Tomaso, remembered the family as quiet and unremarkable. The Kazmierczaks lived on a quiet street in Elk Grove for nearly 20 years, selling the house in 2005. Most of his teachers and guidance counselor have retired in the 10 years since he graduated, she added, and those who remain don’t remember him well. Venetia Miles, a spokeswoman for Elk Grove High School, said Kazmierczak was a B student. “We thought that was kind of weird,” said Manske, who graduated with Kazmierczak’s sister.Įlk Grove High School would not let reporters speak with faculty members during school hours and asked teachers to keep the televisions in classrooms off so students wouldn’t be distracted. He signed her 1997 yearbook with “don’t hit any old ladies crossing the road.” I don’t think he was on any medication when I knew him.” “He was one of the nicest kids at the school and really normal. He liked to hang out with the older kids,” Manske said. “Neither one of us were that good, so we would talk a lot. She played flute while he was a tenor saxophonist. “Fine arts was a way to escape reality, and at the same time they gave you new goals to reach,” he was quoted in his sophomore yearbook.Ĭatherine Manske of Palatine graduated a year ahead of Kazmierczak but said she hung out with him frequently in the two years they were on band together. As a sophomore, he was on the chess team and a supporter of the fine arts program. He was part of a course called the public service practicum, which included community service. He was one of eight students from his graduating class to be in the school band for four years. At Elk Grove, where he graduated in 1998, high school yearbooks paint a pleasant enough picture. NIU Police Chief Donald Grady said Kazmierczak had become erratic the past two weeks after he stopped taking medication, declining to elaborate.īy all accounts, Kazmierczak appeared to be a solid citizen with a bright future. He killed three and injured 19 before killing himself. But there is still a lot to learn about the 27-year-old who on Thursday, armed with three handguns and a shotgun, stepped from behind a curtain on the stage of an NIU lecture hall and opened fire on a geology class of about 160 students. At Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, he became an excellent student, winning a dean’s award for his sociology work.Īt the University of Illinois, where he transferred to finish graduate school, a faculty adviser called him engaging, “a good student.” He was an active, above average high school student at Elk Grove High School. Stephen Kazmierczak could have been anyone.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |