NIU had plans in place for disaster

As they hunkered down behind locked doors, one common thread emerged from Northern Illinois University faculty and staff in the midst of the shooting crisis Thursday.

Plans devised by the university to warn of an emergency seemed to be working.

"They did a nice job with the automated phone calls and Web site," said NIU sports information director emeritus Michael Korcek, as he waited for an all-clear from the Chick Evans Field House.

As the investigation continues into the killings of five NIU students by a gunman, comparisons are sure to rise between how authorities handled the situation in DeKalb with the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.

In the aftermath of a Virginia Tech student's killing of 32 undergraduates April 16, a state panel reviewed the events leading up to the tragedy. Their report concluded the university did not intervene effectively despite incidents where the student showed mental instability. Panel members also found mistakes were made in not issuing a campuswide alert right after the first two victims were shot. In addition, they noted that communication between first responders and hospitals and the notifications to families could have been improved.

NIU campus Police Chief Don Grady didn't address whether the Virginia Tech tragedy had affected how his officers acted in DeKalb.

But it was clear from his response NIU prepared for such a situation because it had happened elsewhere.

"We had a plan for just this sort of thing," Grady said. "Our police practiced that plan. And when the shooting happened, our response could not have been better."

NIU police officers also are certified paramedics.

"Our officers were able to give care to the wounded even as they secured the scene and before any ambulance arrived."