Memorial On Campus at Northern Illinois UniversityMore Bizarre Details Emerge Concerning Northern Illinois University Shooter

As time passes, following the modern-day St. Valentine’s Day massacre at Northern Illinois University, several bizarre bits of information have emerged regarding 27-year old assailant Steven Kazmierczak.

While the shooter’s 28-year-old girlfriend, Jessica Baty, gave CNN an exclusive look at Steven’s farewell note to her, she echoed his ex-nurse (Laura’s) comments that Steven was just a sweetheart of a guy. Ms. Baty recalled a midnight phone conversation the night before the shootings in which her boyfriend of 2 years said, “Don’t forget me. Goodbye, Jessica.” This did not strike Ms. Baty as unusual, apparently.

Kazmierczak then mailed to Ms. Baty, among other items, a package containing 2 textbooks, a new cell phone, and a gun holster with ammunition. [Right. Sounds very normal to me.]

So did Steven’s light reading: Friedrich Nietzche’s “The Anti-Christ” and “The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.” Ironically, Steven and his girlfriend were enrolled in law enforcement classes. Steven is further described as having had a fascination with prisons and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Jessica tells us that “Steven quit taking his medication 3 weeks ago because it made him feel like a zombie.”

Last, but not least, there is a MySpace photograph of the heavily-tattooed Kazmierczak, with a skull with a dagger on his left arm and, on his right arm and one of the characters from the gory movie, “Saw.” (The source said “The Saw”, but the movies were named “Saw,” “Saw I” and “Saw II.”)

The worst thing about Steven Kazmierczak’s mental state is that innocent students like 20-year-old Daniel Pamenter of Westchester were gunned down randomly, in cold blood, for no reason other than that Steven Kazmierczak didn’t like taking his medication. A new word stronger than “tragedy” needs to be created to thoroughly encompass events like this that represent a complete and total waste of valuable life, even though, in violent movies like the “Saw” series (and violent video games) the respect for life and the understanding that it is fragile and precious sometimes seem to be lost amidst senseless carnage.