DeKalb church services offer prayers for NIU shooting victims, families

Churchgoers are remembering the victims of the Northern Illinois University shooting rampage with prayers and support for the school and family members.

At First Baptist Church of DeKalb in NIU's hometown, members passed out red ribbons to several dozen people who attended a morning service.

The Rev. Joe Sanders offered prayers for the families of victims and relatives of the gunman who killed five students and wounded 16 others in a lecture hall before taking his own life.

"Our spirit cannot help, cannot even begin, to grasp the horror that we have seen," Sanders told those gathered. "I'm never going to be the same. I don't think any of us will be the same. The way we think and live will be altered by what happened at NIU."

Authorities said Steven Kazmierczak, 27, had a history of mental illness and had been off his medication for weeks when he stepped out from behind a screen on the lecture hall's stage Thursday and opened fire on a geology class.