By Nicholas Stix
The official statistics on campus crime, which are compiled by campus police departments as per the federal Clery Act, are worthless, because:
1. Campus police departments have been caught falsifying them;
2. Because they commingle crimes committed on school and college campuses;
3. Of the many murders of college students that I have studied in recent years, only one was committed by a white, and all but two were committed off-campus; only the on-campus murders will be captured by the Clery numbers; and
4. These Clery numbers, covering five years (2000-2004), which a smug lefty troll sent me, have no identifying information for 31 percent of the assailants: "However, none of the characteristics for offenders (age, gender, race, or number of offenders) were known in 211,809 of the 688,612 offender records."
[See, previously, at WEJB/NSU:
"Black Northern Illinois U. Senior Goes to Off-Campus Party, Gets Shot and Killed."]
The perception [of NIU being dangerous] has its roots in a shooting rampage that erupted on Valentine's Day in 2008 when former student Steven Phillip Kazmierczak opened fire in Cole Hall. After killing five students and wounding an estimated 19, Kazmierczak committed suicide.
From that point until Wednesday, Northern has had to deal with the fallout from three other violent crimes: In February 2010, a student was shot outside a residence hall. In October 2010, authorities made a grisly finding — the badly burned remains of 18-year-old freshman art student Antinette "Toni" Keller in a park near campus. Then in April an NIU football player was shot off campus.
The 2008 shootings have "resulted in an elevated profile" for NIU, Kathryn Buettner, vice president of university relations, said Wednesday. She maintained that Northern "is one of the safest college campuses" in the U.S. "No university is immune" to isolated acts of violence, she said.
["NIU student from Park Forest killed in shooting near campus," by Erin Meyer, Christy Gutowski and William Lee, Chicago Tribune, November 23, 2011, last article in this stack.]
Murder suspect Chazz Thrailkill, 19, pronounced, "Thrillkill"
Slain NIU student remembered for leadership
Overflow crowd attends funeral for senior shot to death at party
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Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brothers of Steven Agee II leave the funeral service for the slain NIU student. Agee was shot to death at an off-campus party Nov. 23. (Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune / December 2, 2011) |
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Maps
· 801 E Glenwood Dyer Rd, Glenwood, IL 60411, USA
By Jack McCarthy
December 3, 2011
Chicago Tribune
Steven Agee II was remembered Friday as a leader and role model who leaves a legacy with family, friends and his school.
An overflow crowd of more than 800 people paid final respects to the late Northern Illinois University student during a 3-hour 15-minute celebration at Calvary Baptist Church of Glenwood.
"I'm looking at all these faces and it's simply amazing that a young man could affect so many lives," said Calvary Pastor Myron Meredith, who helped preside over a service rich in music and tributes. "Look at the quality of life that this young man lived to affect so many."
Agee, 22, of Park Forest, was on track to graduate from NIU in 2012 with a sociology degree. But early Nov. 23 he was shot in the chest during an argument with a man at an off-campus party in DeKalb and later died.
DeKalb police arrested 19-year-old Chaz Thrailkill in connection with the shooting. The Markham resident, who was not an NIU student, was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated discharge of a firearm.
The funeral drew people of all ages, who provided support to Agee's parents, Steven Sr. and Kimberly, and his brother, Ryan. But younger people dominated the crowd and included many friends and NIU students.
The service was preceded by a lengthy visitation, with Agee's open casket in the front of the sanctuary surrounded by floral arrangements. In the lobby two boards featured photos of Agee and notes from NIU students.
A Thornwood High School graduate, Agee had an active life at NIU, where he served as president of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. More than 100 past and present fraternity members lined the front of the sanctuary for prayers prior to the service.
Glenwood youth sports coach Ron Sorsby said Agee demonstrated leadership ability at an early age.
"I could talk about all the great things about Steve, but this gathering speaks for itself," Sorsby told those in attendance. "He was quarterback on my team, he led us to three championships … Steve was a great leader. Steve didn't take losses very well. He always wanted to win."
Eddie Williams, NIU's executive vice president for business and finance and chief of operations, was among several university representatives on hand.
"We must go forward, each of us" Williams said. "But as we pledge to go forward we also pledge that we shall never forget. We shall never forget Steve. We shall never forget so that we may emerge from all of this a little stronger, a little wiser and, yes, a little better."
Agee's uncle, Pastor Al L. Shaw, traveled from Texas and delivered a stirring 25-minute sermon.
"Be encouraged because we already know that this is not the end, this is only the beginning," Shaw said. "A legacy is being established now. At NIU they will remember Steven. He took life by force."
Relatives said an account has been set up at Chase Bank for a scholarship in Agee's name.
Markham man charged with fatally shooting NIU student
By William Lee
November 23, 2011
Chicago Tribune
A Markham man has been charged with fatally shooting a Northern Illinois University student during an off-campus party early this morning, authorities said.
Police say Chaz Thrailkill, 19, got into an argument with Steven Agee Jr., 22, shortly after 2 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 800 block of Edgebrook Drive. "Words were exchanged between the victim and the suspect. During that exchange, the victim was shot," DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen told a news conference.
Thrailkill was arrested around 11 a.m., about nine hours after the shooting. He was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated discharge of a firearm. Thrailkill was being held on $3 million bail.
Feithen said the suspect is not an NIU student but "was visiting a friend in DeKalb." He credited "friends and witnesses" with helping police track down Thrailkill, including some of the dozens of people who were at the party.
Agee was a senior majoring in sociology who already had a job offer lined up in San Diego. His parents had planned to pick him up this morning for the Thanksgiving holiday.
"I just lost my baby boy. That's it," his father Steven Agee Sr. told the Tribune this morning. "And now there will be no more holidays with him, not even this one coming now.
"You send your kid off to college and what happens," Agee Sr. said. "You hear about these shootings all the time, but you never think it'll happen to you."
Steven was the youngest of the Agee's two sons and had graduated from Thornwood High School in South Holland.
Agee Jr. had already secured a job offer in San Diego, and was called in for a second job interview with a company in Tinley Park, according to his mother, Kimberly.
"I'm just numb," she said, sighing deeply.
Kimberly Agee said her son, in his own way, had prepared her in case he left the area for a job after he graduated.
"He asked me to stop babying him," she recalled. "(He said) he was grown and graduating from college and just let him make his transition from childhood to adulthood and to just let him and stop holding on to him so tight."
She remembers telling him, "I'm Mom and that's what we do."
Awake for hours with the terrible news of her youngest son's death, a weary Kimberly Agee said she had little thought about the man who gunned down her son.
"Right now, what difference does it make? I can't put him in the car with me and take Steven home. We are not going to sit down and have dinner on Thursday if they catch (the gunman). If they give (the gunman) 100 years (in prison), Steven is not coming home to me and his dad."
"We have to make funeral arrangements for my baby and that's not the way it should be."
After spending several hours with police, NIU senior Ryan Chambers -- who lives in the apartment where Agee was shot -- packed to leave DeKalb for the holiday.
A tall, soft-spoken man, Chambers remembered all the "deep" conversations he had had with Agee, a sociology major. The two had known each other five years.
"Somebody he didn't even know had a gun ... and shot him," he said. "I was upstairs and I heard three shots.
"People were screaming," he said, starting to cry. "I just told him to hang on."
Students Latrece Baker, 22, and Caress Moss, 24, were among the few students walking on campus this morning.
"It does put you in a state of mind where you are concerned on campus about public safety," Moss said.
Baker said "everybody knew" Agee. "You go to college to better yourself," she said.
Agee was tentatively slated to graduate next spring, said Brad Hoey, NIU's director of communications and marketing. "We're deeply saddened and our hearts and prayers are with the Agee family," he said.
The university has experienced several violent episodes on and off campus in recent years.
The most notable was on Valentine's Day 2008, when a former student opened fire, killing five people and wounding more than a dozen before killing himself.
Earlier this year, two NIU students were charged with shooting a NIU linebacker at an off-campus apartment.
In a message posted on the school's website, NIU President John Peters denounced the "senseless act of violence" that took Agee's life.
"In this country, we send our children to college, and we expect them to be safe," he said. "Unfortunately, in our society today, we have come to see acts of violence involving young people as an all too common occurrence. There is a danger that we may become desensitized and accept increasing levels of violence as a fact of life.
"We cannot allow this to happen.
"As parents, teachers, students, friends and members of our community, we must continue to make our world safe for young people to grow, thrive and reach their potential."
NIU student from Park Forest killed in shooting near campus
By Erin Meyer, Christy Gutowski and William Lee
November 23, 2011
Chicago Tribune
Parents of students at Northern Illinois University were confronted Wednesday by an all-too-familiar problem: Violence at the school an hour's drive from Chicago is once again raising questions about its safety.
An off-campus shooting early Wednesday ended in the death of an NIU student from the Chicago suburbs, the fourth high-profile act of violence since five students were killed in a lecture hall shooting rampage in 2008.
"You send your kid off to college and what happens?" said Steven Agee Sr., whose son and namesake was gunned down in the latest violence involving an NIU student. "You hear about these shootings all the time, but you never think it'll happen to you."
School officials said violence is a societal problem.
"In this country, we send our children to college, and we expect them to be safe," NIU President John Peters wrote in a message on the school's website after the shooting death of Steven R. Agee II, 22, a senior sociology major from Park Forest. "Unfortunately, in our society today, we have come to see acts of violence involving young people as an all too common occurrence."
Agee Sr. made the loss much more palpable.
"I just lost my baby boy," he said early Wednesday. "And now there will be no more holidays with him, not even this one coming now."
Kimberly Agee, the victim's mother, said she was "just numb."
The victim, who had a job waiting for him in San Diego after his graduation, was shot in the chest about 2:10 a.m. Wednesday during an argument with a man at a party about a mile from the NIU campus, in the "Greek Row" area, authorities said.
A little more than eight hours later, DeKalb police apprehended Chaz Thrailkill, 19, of Markham, who was visiting friends in the area. Thrailkill, who is not an NIU student, was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated discharge of a firearm. He is being held on $3 million bail.
Kimberly Agee said she had little to say about the man charged with killing her son.
"We have to make funeral arrangements for my baby," she said, "and that's not the way it should be."
Later, Agee said her son considered transferring from NIU after the February 2008 shootings.
"'I should just leave and go to another school,'" she recalled him saying.
"I'm sure he was (scared)," she said.
But he remained at Northern. "We talked about him going on (at NIU) and not running," his mother said.
NIU administrators and students concede that some regard the 116-year-old university with alumni including former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, actress Joan Allen and NFL running back Michael Turner as an unsafe campus.
The perception has its roots in a shooting rampage that erupted on Valentine's Day in 2008 when former student Steven Phillip Kazmierczak opened fire in Cole Hall. After killing five students and wounding an estimated 19, Kazmierczak committed suicide.
From that point until Wednesday, Northern has had to deal with the fallout from three other violent crimes: In February 2010, a student was shot outside a residence hall. In October 2010, authorities made a grisly finding — the badly burned remains of 18-year-old freshman art student Antinette "Toni" Keller in a park near campus. Then in April an NIU football player was shot off campus.
The 2008 shootings have "resulted in an elevated profile" for NIU, Kathryn Buettner, vice president of university relations, said Wednesday. She maintained that Northern "is one of the safest college campuses" in the U.S. "No university is immune" to isolated acts of violence, she said.
NIU's enrollment has dropped slightly, which experts contend is likely a consequence of the recession, not a product of any changing perceptions of the school.
Jacky Lopez, 21, a biology major from Yorkville and president of the student organization Huskies United, said social media sites for the college and student newspaper were clogged with comments questioning campus safety hours after Agee's death.
Agee's friends reacted with shock to his violent death.
"I cried when I heard the news," said friend Darryl Stallings, 24, who lives in the apartment complex where Agee was shot and worked with him at an NIU cafeteria. Stallings said Agee was "energetic" and admired by his fraternity brothers, who elected him president in 2009 largely because he emphasized academic achievement.
When news of Agee's death reached Eric and Mary Kay Mace, who lost their only child, Ryanne, 19, in the Valentine's Day 2008 campus shootings, Eric Mace said his first thought was sympathy for Agee's parents.
Then, he thought about NIU, he said. Mace said he never blamed the university for his daughter's death and that the violence in the university community since has been "isolated acts by specific people."
Tribune reporters Ted Gregory, Diane Rado and Becky Schlikerman contributed.
[Thanks to dogged reader-researcher RC.]
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