Shooting
The man who opened fire at NIU yesterday was apparently a current student at the University of Illinois studying for a Masters in Social Work. The papers were all saying sociology, but the UIUC phone book says social work. Either way, it's utterly messed up that someone who studies or practices within a field dedicated to eliminating problems like this would commit such an act. I know, it goes without saying. But social work! I cannot understand it. These are people who help the victims of crimes and counsel people with violent tendencies.
He also graduated just a year after me from Elk Grove High School, which is not far from where I grew up. Meaning that it's very likely that I know someone who knows him.
Events like this are hard to swallow, but usually there is some explanation for it, or some sort of "profile" to attach to the killer. This one doesn't fit. No criminal record, graduate student, honor student, social scientist, not socially isolated. This could have been one of my grad school classmates, for God's sake.
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