Searching for answers to random crime
Last week my aunt had a car fall from the sky onto her car while she was driving down I-90.
The incident has made me think about random crime and how people are supposed to cope with a situation that one can’t really prepare for. The quest for a motive has forced police to explore Kazmierczak’s recent changes.
More information continues to surface about looking at Cole Hall and its targeting.
Nyssa Bulkes, a former colleague of mine at the Northern Star, is in a Tuesday & Thursday class that met from 3:30-4:45- just after the now infamous Geology 104 class.
When she returned to class last Tuesday, she and her classmates were questioned about a potential dry-run Kazmierczak may have made on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 12. Ms. Bulkes did not see anyone come into the class.
It seems Kazmierczak may have targeted NIU and Cole Hall simply because it was familiar to him. There have been rumors of a mysterious, upset girl that came into the infamous class without any books and left just before the shooting. Witness accounts have varied so its police have discounted the testimony and have cleared that lead.
It is certain that this incident will reignite the debate about NIU’s recent mental health care issues. With a better care system, its possible that reacting to some of the recent red flags could have prevented this massacre. I don’t know if that would be likely though.
It is not feasible to restrict people with moderate mental health issues from buying a gun. We just don’t have the resources and could not invade people’s medical records enough to know who to restrict.
NIU’s campus is relatively safe and the concentration of crime tends to happen away from the center of campus area that Cole Hall was in.
With the prevalence of prescription drugs use as the main solution to mental issues, there’s no doubt that unforeseen interaction problems could occur. There is no history to show that the three drugs Steve was on, Xanax, Ambien and Prozac, should interact adversely.
Living in this country with such a high standard of living we are not used to daily tragedy. We can’t identify with people who live in Kenya or Iraq and have to deal with the possibility of death through no fault of our own.
The only solace that I take is in the way this place is different now. Maybe this situation makes this a better place, makes us take care of each other a little more. I hope so. Then again maybe getting back to normal amounts to many people going back to our selfish existences.
We are all looking for someone to blame. There are many suspects but no clear answer yet. NIU needs one.
Tags: dekalb, dekalbcrime, kazmierczak, mentalhealth, niu, niushooting