Another School Shooting/Another Young Murderer

NY TIMES reports:

Confronted with the scene of horror, people who knew him at the campus he attacked and the one he was currently enrolled in, the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, struggled with shock.

His adviser in Champaign, who saw him earlier this year, used words like “nice,” “engaging,” “motivated” and “responsible” to describe him. "I saw nothing that would suggest that there was anything troubling about his behavior or him,” Professor Jan Carter-Black told reporters today, according to USA Today. “I enjoyed having him as a student.”

When Mr. Kazmierczak was a graduate student in sociology at Northern Illinois University, he appeared to be a model student, earning a dean’s award in 2006.

He also served as vice president of the Academic Criminal Justice Association, a student group focused on educating the community. In a biography posted to the college’s Web site, he vowed to serve as treasurer “best of my ability.”

“I’ve worked very hard as a student,” Mr. Kazmierczak wrote. “I feel that I’m committed to social justice.”

He wrote a paper on prison issues, “Self Injury in Correctional Settings,” with several co-authors, including the group’s president.