Responding to the Public Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Responding to the Public - Essay Example On the 14th of February 2008 a gunman shot twenty-four people on the campus of Northern Illinois University that is located in Dekalb, Illinois, wounding eighteen and killing six (The Evening Standard, 2008). Descriptions of the event recounted the gunman, who was later identified as Steven Kazmierczak, 27, stepped out from behind a curtain in the large lecture hall, and opened fire then turning the weapon on himself, committing suicide (Western Mail, 2008). Later identified as a former student at the university, police were not able to ascertain a motive for the shootings, citing that Kazmierczak was taking some type of medication and was reported by friends and neighbours as acting increasingly erratic during the weeks leading up to the incident (Western Mail, 2008). Further puzzling is that he did not have any type of police record (Western Mail, 2008). ... Later identified as a former student at the university, police were not able to ascertain a motive for the shootings, citing that Kazmierczak was taking some type of medication and was reported by friends and neighbours as acting increasingly erratic during the weeks leading up to the incident (Western Mail, 2008). Further puzzling is that he did not have any type of police record (Western Mail, 2008). Reported as an outstanding student when he attended the university, it was found that Kazmierczak has been treated temporarily for mental illness as a result of unruly behaviour toward his parents in his early teens (Daily Post, 2008). Prior to this tragic event, the university had not have any type of violent incidents, not even student riots or unrest, as Northern Illinois University is located in a quiet small Midwestern town. The Hidden Factors Later investigation turned up that Steven Kazmierczak indeed had a secret life that hide his good student and known public behaviour opinions (The Huffington Post, 2009). In the late 1990s Kazmierczak spent in excess of "a year at the Thresholds-Maryhill House ", which was "an alternative high school program for children suffering from mental illness" (The Huffington Post, 2009). The foregoing was a result of unruly behaviour, and he was admitted by his parents. Kazmierczak's condition, which Dr. Jay Rice (2008) describes as abandonment that could have its causes in the following events "1. He may have felt abandoned by his parents for placing him in treatment at Thresholds, 2. He may have felt abandoned by the illness of his mother and her death from ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease in 2006, 3. He may have felt abandoned by the death of an older sister to cancer, 4. He may have