Seventh Student Dies From Campus Shooting

Classes and activities at Northern Illinois University campuses were canceled indefinitely after a shooting left seven people dead and 15 others injured.

The seventh victim died in the hospital of injuries received when a gunman armed with a shotgun and two handguns opened fire in a lecture auditorium, killing six students and injuring 15 others before killing himself, CBS News reported Friday.

The FBI is investigating the rampage described by Northern Illinois University President John Peters as a very brief, rapid-fire assault, the Daily Chronicle newspaper in DeKalb, Ill., reported.

Peters and University Police Chief Don Grady said the man entered the auditorium near the end of a geology class shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday and opened fire.

Thursday’s attack at the DeKalb campus came about two months after the university delayed final exams in December, reacting to dormitory bathroom graffiti threatening violence and referring to the April 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.

Peters said the gunman’s motives were unknown.

The gunman was a Northern Illinois University sociology graduate student in spring 2007 and enrolled elsewhere, Peters said.

Senior Desiree Smith said she was taking notes when she saw the man.

He just seemed to appear, she told the Daily Chronicle. He was dressed all in black … and I saw him shoot.