A gunman killed five people and injured 16 before taking his own life during a "suicidal rampage" at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

The shooter, 27-year old Stephen Kazmierczak was a former student of the university who had no prior arrest record. Kazmierczak entered a Geology 104 classroom in Cole Hall at approximately 3 p.m. Thursday and opened fire with a shotgun and three handguns, according to the Northern Star, the independent student newspaper of NIU.

Five people, including the gunman, were reported dead at the scene; one died at the hospital later that day. 162 students were registered for the class, but it is unknown how many were in attendance, according to the AP.

Following the shooting, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich declared a state of emergency. The campus was shut down and athletic events were cancelled through Sunday, Feb. 17, the Northern Star said.

"We're advising students to remain calm and seek counseling and other support services that are being offered at various locations," said NIU president John Peters, according to the Northern Star. "All of our personnel have spread out through the campus to help students. We've asked them to reach out to each other in this difficult time. They're doing that. I'm proud of them."

The names of the victims, all from Illinois, were released on Friday by the DeKalb County Coroner and the university. They include 20-year old Daniel Parmenter of Westchester, 20-year old Catalina Garcia of Cicero, 19-year old Ryanne Mace of Carpentersville, 32-year old Julianna Gehant of Meriden, and 20-year old Gayle Dubowski of Carol Stream, the Northern Star reported. Dubowski was the only one who did not die at the scene, New York Times said.

According to the Times, Donald Grady, the chief of the college's department of public safety, "said that those who knew the shooter said he had started acting erratic in recent weeks. 'Apparently, he had been taking medication and he had stopped taking the medication in recent weeks.'"

Grady added that the shooter left no motive and that the police "do not understand his motivation." He also had no apparent connection to the victims, the Times reported.

On Dec. 10, 2007, NIU received what is believed to be an unrelated threat making racial slurs and references to the April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech.

"Yesterday's shooting at Northern Illinois University was a terrible, senseless tragedy and our hearts go out to the victims, their families and the entire NIU community," University president Amy Gutmann said.

She advised students who have not yet done so to register for the UPennAlert emergency notification system in order to ensure the safety of all members of the Penn community.

Campus News Editor Rebecca Kaplan contributed reporting to this article.

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