The Mystery of the NIU Shooter
[Guest post by DRJ]
As I read about shootings like the one yesterday at Northern Illinois University that killed 5 and wounded 21, I experience a range of emotions: Sadness, disgust, fear, and anger. It helps a little to try to understand why things like this happen and to identify clues that may help avoid incidents like this in the future.
So far, there are no obvious clues that would have forecast the NIU shooter other than his very recent erratic behavior:
“A day after a lecture hall was attacked at Northern Illinois University, the gunman emerged in two portraits not easily reconciled.
In recent weeks, Steve Kazmierczak, turned erratic after suspending an unidentified medication. He gathered the tools for a slaughter, and carried it out quickly, silently and without emotion.
But that person bore no resemblance to the 27-year-old man who Donald Grady, the chief of the college’s department of public safety, said “was revered by the faculty and staff and students alike” and was completely unknown to police.”
Perhaps there’s more health care professionals can do when certain medications are involved, although there’s no indication what medicines were involved here. But HIPAA laws and privacy issues, not to mention the inability of health care professionals to monitor every aspect of their patients’ lives, make that unlikely. The New York therapist’s murder is a good illustration of how privacy laws make it difficult to investigate – let alone forecast – criminal acts where there are health care issues involved.
Finally, it’s a shame that along with all the things kids have to worry about these days, they also have to worry about school shootings. I expect we’ll see more state legislatures considering bills like this that authorize school faculty and staff to carry guns.
— DRJ