February 15, 2008

· Six dead, 16 injured
· Witnesses describe terror
· Gunman stepped out on stage
· Fifth US school shooting this week

Six people are dead and 16 others injured after a gunman opened fire on up to 140 university students at Northern Illinois University today, university president John Peters said.

The dead included four women and two men, including the killer, Mr Peters told a news conference at the university in DeKalb, about 100 kilometres west of downtown Chicago.

The gunman, who had no police record, was a sociology major who last attended classes as a graduate student in the spring of 2007 and who may have since enrolled at a different college, said Mr Peters.

Some reports claimed he was wearing black, but others said he was skinny, white, 180 centimetres tall and wearing jeans, a grey T-shirt and a white, knitted cap.

He had a shotgun, a Glock pistol and a small-calibre handgun, with ammunition still left in both handguns, university police chief Donald Grady said at a press conference, according to the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

He said gun magazines were found “all over the floor”.

Stepped out from behind curtain

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Bizarre murder - hacked to death with bag o knives and meat cleaver wearing diapers and womens clothing - Be on the lookout for a balding middle aged man carrying a large bag of knives and cleavers and ladies clothes, has duct tape and may be wearing a diaper. He may be in need of a new therapist since he seems to have whacked this one.

NEW YORK — Police hunted Wednesday for a man who entered a shrink’s office with a bag of knives and a meat cleaver, hacking her to death so savagely that blood spattered the walls and floor and the entire room was torn apart.

A colleague who responded to the victim’s screams was seriously injured, and investigators were trying to determine whether the attacker was a patient at the clinic. Three knives were recovered at the scene, including a 9-inch knife and the cleaver, which was apparently bent from the attack, police said.

Kathryn Faughey’s office was in shambles: Furniture was overturned, shades torn and blood was on the walls and pooled on the floor. She suffered 15 stab wounds, including a gash to her head

believed to be from the cleaver, police said.

“The condition of the room was that of a fierce struggle,” police spokesman Paul Browne said.

Investigators do not know the name of the suspect. Authorities released a sketch of a balding, middle-aged man believed to be the killer along with surveillance videotapes of the attacker entering and leaving the building.

He left behind two bags that contained bizarre clues, authorities said.

A roller suitcase was filled with adult diapers and women’s clothing, including blouses and slippers, and a smaller second bag was filled with eight knives, rope and duct tape, tools apparently not used in the attack, police said.

Believing the killer might have been injured in the attack, authorities issued alerts to area hospitals and looked through Faughey’s computer files for clues. They also examined surveillance footage to see whether he had been to the office prior to the attack.

The attack rattled residents of the affluent neighborhood. They feared a violent slasher was in their midst. It also shocked the mental health care community and raised questions about safety protections at therapist’s offices.

“Everyone in the building is very nervous, because we know that this person is loose. It’s very frightening,” said Linda Elliott, who lives in the building where the attack occurred.

Read the rest of the sick murder story from the Miami News