 "Photo: Alan Cesar ~ Northern Star")
Thursday was a normal day for Dan Monaghan and his geology classmates at Northern Illinois University until a few minutes after 3 p.m.
Monaghan, a sophomore who transferred from SIUC to NIU in August, said he woke-up early to study at the library for a test on Friday. That night, he was supposed to play guitar at a club for couples celebrating Valentine's Day. Thursday afternoon, he spent time with his roommates before going to his 2 p.m. geology class at Cole Hall.
Shortly after 3 p.m., Monaghan said he thought the person stepping onto the stage during lecture was someone to fix computers. It was not until after he saw fire emerge from the barrel of a 12-gauge shotgun that he realized the "tech-support worker" had something else in mind.
"My first thought was, 'These are blanks, and this isn't real,'" he said.
Steven Kazmierczak, a 27-year-old graduate student at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, killed five students and wounded 17 Thursday when he opened fire with a shotgun and three pistols. Early reports from investigators have said Kazmierczak suffered from mental illness in the past, and had not been taking his medication at the time of the shooting.
Classes and athletic events have been canceled at NIU this week as the campus and its students attempt to recover from the tragedy.
Monaghan transferred to the university in DeKalb from SIUC before the fall semester started. Though he is closer to family and his girlfriend at NIU, Monaghan said he missed the beauty and feel of southern Illinois, as well as the way students interact with each other.
Monaghan said the NIU campus has a different feeling than SIUC. There are less international students, and not as much character, such as a Thompson Woods or Campus Lake, he said.
Monaghan was one of many SIUC connections in the room when shots were fired. The class' instructor, Joseph Peterson, was a 2005 SIUC graduate with a bachelor's degree in geology. Peterson was one of the injured.
SIUC Chancellor Fernando Treviño said officials at all SIU campuses are reviewing emergency response systems to prepare as much as a large university can for such an occurrence. Reports from eyewitnesses at NIU said police officers were on the scene within two minutes of the first shot.
"I got to hand it to the police," Monaghan said. "They were there right away, and were taking care of people."
Monaghan said he was not in the room for more than six seconds after shots were fired, but the memories of that time have been replaying in his head ever since. Unable to describe the shooter from his memory, Monaghan said he will never forget the screams of his classmates as Kazmierczak jumped off the stage, and ran up a nearby aisle. Even though he had fled the building, Monaghan said he did not stop running - the sound of gunshots in sync with his footsteps - until he was in a building 150 yards away.
The flood of personal questions was one of the reasons Monaghan said he will be staying with his girlfriend in Iowa City, Iowa, until classes reopen on Feb. 25. But he said he wants to inform the public of what happened at Cole Hall to prevent the wrong story from spreading.
Monaghan said he wanted to express appreciation to SIUC friends who called and sent text messages expressing concern for his safety.
"I love them all for it," he said. "I'm 400-some miles away, and people were calling me. It was awesome."
At a press conference Friday in the Student Center, Rosemary Simmons, director of counselors at SIUC, said the university has 13 counselors available for anyone needing to be heard. All counselors are available by appointment at the Student Health Center, she said.
Daily Egyptian writer Barton Lorimor can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 274 or barton.lorimor@siude.com.
