Shooting in Illinois

Some of you have probably heard about the shooting at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, February 14, 2008. A former student stormed into a Science lecture class. The gunman first shot the professor, then started firing at the students and then shot himself. As of now, I believe around 7 people have died (including the gunman.) I think around 20 were shot and students are still in critical condition. This happens far too often and it's very scary to think about. I found out today, that my cousin was in that classroom. Before she had a chance to get down on the floor, she saw the two people sitting right next to her get shot. She managed to crawl out and she's fine now. She wasn't killed or shot, thank goodness. But I'm sure she's traumatized. It's scary to think that that could've been my college classroom.

Today in my Geology class (which is also in a giant lecture hall) I passed my friend a note asking her if she had heard about the tragedy. She wrote back that she had and how scary it was. About 20 seconds later, the lights started flashing and a loud siren began to sound, along with a computerized voice telling us that there had been a reported emergency and to evacuate the main classroom building. We cleared out, waited in the university center and eventually they opened the building again, but I still have no idea what that was about. There were police everywhere and we know it wasn't a drill, but I doubt I'll ever know. Oh well. The timing was what made it scary.

Things like this tend to make me think about things a lot. I'm really lucky never to have personally experienced something like that. Hopefully I won't ever have to.