Shooting survivor recounts attack

Harold Ng didn't think too much of the man who suddenly appeared onstage with the geology instructor.

Until he saw the shotgun.

"He fired once," said Ng, an NIU junior. "It didn't sound like a gun at all. More like a champagne bottle. Everyone was frantically ducking or trying to get out of Cole."

Ng, 21, of Mundelein, was among the injured Thursday when a 27-year-old gunman opened fire in Cole Hall on the NIU campus. Six people, including the shooter, died.

As screams and gunshots filled the room, Ng said he couldn't believe what was happening.

"We were trying to switch from study mode to survival mode," he said. When the second shot was fired, more people started running, panicking, knowing it was reality."

Sprinting toward the nearest building, Neptune Hall, he felt no pain. But as he brushed his hand over his head, he pulled it back to find it covered in blood.

"At that time I knew I had been shot or some debris had gotten on me," he said. "I didn't know the details."

By the time he reached his destination other students saw him bleeding and came to his aid.

He was taken to Kishwaukee Community Hospital with three pellets in the back of his head but released the same night.

Ng is home now and said he is feeling better. He saw a doctor Saturday afternoon who told him the pellets would likely come out on their own.

The thought of returning to school elicits mixed feelings.

"I wouldn't want to (go back), but because of obligation, if it doesn't close down, I'm going to have to move on and stay strong," he said.

He wants the community to know he's OK but to keep praying for the others who were killed or injured.

Among those injured is Lauren Debrauwere of Lake Barrington, a member of the Sigma Kappa sorority and girlfriend of Dan Parmenter who died in the attack.

Debrauwere is in serious condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

She and Parmenter had a short but happy relationship, according to Parmenter's cousin Jessie Mack, who also attends Northern.

"The time they did have together, he treated her like a princess and they were really happy," Mack said.

Friend Carolyn Babbitt described Debrauwere as gorgeous, friendly and outgoing.

"She was friends to everyone and she was never mean or hurtful," Babbitt said via a Facebook message to the Daily Herald. "Everyone loved Lauren and it has hurt so many people that she was hurt from this shooting."