6th Student Dies in NIU Shooting

A sixth victim of the gunman who opened fire in an Illinois college classroom yesterday has died and at least four more remain in critical condition. The assailant, a former grad student at Northern Illinois University, entered through a door to the right of the lecture stage and silently started shooting. He fired a shotgun at the more than 100 students in Geology 104, then shot and wounded the instructor with a handgun, and then shot himself.

One of the victims, Daniel Parmentier, was shot in the head while sitting in the front row of the auditorium; his girlfriend, sitting next to him, was also killed. Students who fled the lecture hall jumped over others who were ducking for safety. Some crawled to the exits, as at least 22 were struck by bullets. "It didn't look like he was aiming directly at someone," said one survivor. "I think he was trying to hit as many people as he could." (More Northern Illinois University stories.)