The graduate student who massacred students in Northern Illinois University lecture hall bought three of his four guns on Saturday - indicating that he had been planning his assault for at least six days, ABC News has learned.
University sources identfied the gunman as Steve Kazmierczak, 27, a onetime undergraduate and award winning sociology graduate student at NIU.
The bloodbath claimed a total of seven lives, including the gunman who also shot himself, and another 16 wounded.
Kazmierczak, dressed in black, was armed with three handguns and a shotgun as students took cover beneath desks and ran out of the lecture hall. He was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
In all, there were 23 casualties in the shooting, including the gunman, university president John Peters told "Good Morning America." Several of the victims were taken to hospitals, where three later died. Four others, including the shooter, died at the scene of the gunfire. Peters said no note was found and no motive is yet known.
"There is no note or threat that I know of," Peters told GMA. "By all accounts that we can tell right now [he] was a very good student that the professors thought well of."
Law enforcement authorities told ABC News that Kazmierczak, bought most of his arsenal -- a 12 gauge shotgun, .22 pistol and a .9 mm pistol -- at a gun store in Champaign, Ill., on Saturday, indicating that he had planned the assault on the school for at least five days.
A .45 Glock semi-automatic handgun was also found on the scene and linked to him.
Kazmierczak had no history of mental illness and no history of arrests, which would have allowed him to qualify to buy the guns under the state's gun laws, sources said.
By all accounts Kazmierczak was a good student. Serving as a member of the NIU Academic Criminal Justice Assocation, and a teaching aid as an undergraduate. In 2006 he recieved a Dean's Award from the sociology department.
Kazmierczak's father Robert lives in Lakeland Fl. and his mother died in Sept. 2006.
The shooting occurred during an introductory geology class at the university's Cole Hall in the campus center around 3:15 p.m. About 163 students were registered for the class.
"The assailant began firing into the assembled class from the stage — from the front," Peters said.
"It didn't seem like he was aiming, he just raised a gun and shot immediately," said Paul Sundstrom, a student who was sitting in the class with his brother Kevin when the gunman opened fire.
Kevin Sundstrom said, "He had blank stare on his face, not a frown, not a grin, like there was nobody there. I went back to find Paul. He was reloading his gun, like he's in the backyard, methodically going about it."
"I didn't think it was real, I went to ground, asked a girl if it was for real. She said 'run!' I crawled and never looked back," said Kristina Balluff, another student who was also in the hall.
"If he had different gun, it would have been worse," said Kevin.
Peters described the incident as a "very brief rapid-fire assault that ended with the gunman taking his own life."
An eyewitness told ABC News' Eileen Murphy that the shooter was a white male, about 5'9", wearing a black beanie and a black coat, who had an ebony shotgun. He came in through the teacher's podium area and opened fire on 100 to 120 people who were attending the class.
NIU Police Chief Donald Grady said there was "no apparent motive at this time" for the shooting and it appeared the gunman had acted alone.
Most of the victims were taken to Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb, though some were airlifted elsewhere, including a female with a chest injury and two other victims with head injuries.
All of the casualties were students, including the teaching assistant leading the class who was a graduate student, Peters said.
DeKalb County Coroner Dennis J. Miller on Friday released the identities of the four victims who died in his county: Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; and Julianna Gehant, 32, of Meridan.
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