CHICAGO -- On the Northern Illinois University campus, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, 27, was considered a gentle, hard-working student, who was honored two years ago with a dean's award for his sociology work.
Professors who taught him said it was hard to imagine he was the same person authorities identified as the gunman in Thursday's classroom shootings.
"I knew Steve both as an undergraduate and as a graduate student. I have had him in my home. I knew him as a warm, sensitive, very bright student," wrote Professor Kristen Myers in an e-mail. "I never would believe that he could do this. I know that when these horrible things happen, everyone searches for roots to explain it. Here, I'm afraid I don't have any."
Authorities in DeKalb County confirmed yesterday that Kazmierczak had recently stopped taking medication.
No further details were available.
NIU President John G. Peters said Kazmierczak, who was accused of killing five people Thursday before taking his own life, had "a very good academic record, no record of trouble," while studying at the university.
University officials and former teachers said Kazmierczak had established himself as an authority on prison systems, having co-written manuscripts on self-injury in prison and religion's role in the formation of early prisons in the United States.
Both papers were written under the guidance of Jim Thomas, a professor emeritus at NIU and a nationally renowned criminal-justice expert.
Thomas first became acquainted with Kazmierczak when the student took an introductory sociology course, taught in Cole Hall - where Thursday's shooting took place.
"In this large class, he stood out. So I tried to use him as an unpaid assistant," Thomas said. "He stood out because he was hard-working, he was bright, he would come up and talk about ideas behind what I'd taught."
Thomas said he was left dumbfounded when news of the gunman's identity trickled out around campus Thursday.
"When I heard yesterday that it was a student in corrections and social justice, a former grad student, I thought, `Oh, my God, that's Steve. That has to be Steve,'" he said. "It's nuts, nuts, totally nuts. He was the most gentle, even guy."
One former classmate called Kazmierczak "probably the best student in the class."
The classmate, who asked not to be identified, said Kazmierczak routinely followed the news and often talked about what was on The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
