"It surprises me that he would have had a gun," the classmate said.
Thomas said Kazmierczak left the university after the spring 2007 semester to transfer to the University of Illinois.
At the time, NIU colleagues were troubled because Kazmierczak failed two classes and received an incomplete in another course. Thomas, however, believed Kazmierczak failed the classes because he had already shifted his focus to the University of Illinois.
Thomas said the only negative feelings he ever got from Kazmierczak were about NIU's scaling back its criminology program. "So, he felt like his academic needs weren't being met," Thomas said.
After he left DeKalb, Kazmierczak worked briefly as a guard at an Indiana prison about 80 miles from Urbana-Champaign, Ill.
Doug Garrison, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Corrections, said Kazmierczak worked at the Rockville Correctional Facility in western Indiana from Sept. 24 to Oct. 9, 2007.
Then he abruptly left.
"He just did not come back to work," Garrison said. "He called up one day and said he was not coming back."
Garrison said he did not know why Kazmierczak quit. Garrison declined to discuss any aspect of Kazmierczak's job application.
Thomas said most of his communication with Kazmierczak in the last several months was by e-mail. When the professor asked him why he quit his job at the prison, he said, "he never really responded."
While in Champaign, Kazmierczak lived with his former girlfriend on the city's west side, several miles from campus. Thomas said the couple was no longer romantically involved but had continued to share an apartment.
Authorities in DeKalb confirmed yesterday that Kazmierczak had recently stopped taking medication. Thomas said Kazmierczak had confided in him that he had served in the military and received a discharge for psychological reasons.
"He only discussed that with me in passing," Thomas said. "He seemed as normal as you or I."
Kazmierczak grew up in Elk Grove Village, Ill., but records show his parents moved to Florida shortly before his mother's death in 2004.
Kazmierczak graduated from Elk Grove High School in 1998 with a B average, spokeswoman Venetia Miles said. While at the school, he participated in band, the Japanese language program and a public service class.
Miles said most of the teachers and counselors at the school during Kazmierczak's time there have left or retired. She said most teachers and staff still at the school only have vague recollections of him.
Kazmierczak's father, Robert Kazmierczak, gave a brief comment outside his home in Lakeland, Fla., about 50 miles southwest of Orlando. "Please leave me alone," he said. "I have no statement to make. This is a very hard time. I'm a diabetic."
He then broke down crying and went back inside.
With him were several deputy sheriffs from the Polk County sheriff's office. Sheriff Grady Judd said his agency had been asked to interview Kazmierczak's father at the request of DeKalb County investigators, but said his agency would release no details.
David Heinzmann, Eric Zorn and Jeff Long write for the Chicago Tribune.
