DEKALB, Illinois (CNN) -- A gunman dressed in black walked from behind a curtain at the front of a large lecture hall Thursday at Northern Illinois University and shot 22 people, four fatally, then killed himself, authorities said.
Rescue workers carry a victim from Cole Hall Thursday after a gunman shot 22 people during a geology class.
1 of 3 Four of the wounded were in critical condition, eight in stable condition; and six in fair to good condition, a hospital Web site said.
The shooting occurred shortly after 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) in Cole Hall. The class runs from 2 p.m. until 3:15 p.m., University President John Peters said.
"It started and it stopped very quickly," said Police Chief Donald Grady. The gunman, whose identity has not been revealed publicly, was not a student at the NIU campus in DeKalb, west of Chicago, but "may have been a student somewhere else."
Police do not have an apparent motive now, Grady said.
Kevin McEnery said he was in the classroom when a man dressed in a black shirt, dark pants and black hat burst in carrying a shotgun.
"He just kicked the door open, just started shooting," said McEnery, who was in the class at the time. "All I really heard was just people screaming, yelling get out. ... close to 30 shots were fired." Watch McEnery describe the chaos at the scene »
Damn!!
Rescue workers carry a victim from Cole Hall Thursday after a gunman shot 22 people during a geology class.
1 of 3 Four of the wounded were in critical condition, eight in stable condition; and six in fair to good condition, a hospital Web site said.
The shooting occurred shortly after 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) in Cole Hall. The class runs from 2 p.m. until 3:15 p.m., University President John Peters said.
"It started and it stopped very quickly," said Police Chief Donald Grady. The gunman, whose identity has not been revealed publicly, was not a student at the NIU campus in DeKalb, west of Chicago, but "may have been a student somewhere else."
Police do not have an apparent motive now, Grady said.
Kevin McEnery said he was in the classroom when a man dressed in a black shirt, dark pants and black hat burst in carrying a shotgun.
"He just kicked the door open, just started shooting," said McEnery, who was in the class at the time. "All I really heard was just people screaming, yelling get out. ... close to 30 shots were fired." Watch McEnery describe the chaos at the scene »
Damn!!
