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All three newscasts started the same way, with a correspondent in Dekalb Ill--Kevin Tibbles for NBC, Cynthia Bowers for CBS, Barbara Pinto (embargoed link) for ABC--to provide a narrative of the lecture hall carnage, a brief thumbnail of Kazmierczak's successful academic career and a plea from his bereaved father in Florida: "Please leave me alone. I have no statement to make and no comment, OK? I would appreciate that. This is a very hard time." ABC had Eric Horng (embargoed link) follow up with sketches of those students Kazmierczak killed. CBS' Randall Pinkston checked campus security procedures: "It was a day the university tried to prevent with meticulous plans and practice drills." Within eight minutes, ten police officers converged on the scene but even that was not quick enough to prevent violence. Kazmierczak had already killed himself.
ABC and NBC looked at the regulation of firearms. NBC's Pete Williams pointed out that the three handguns and the shotgun that Kazmierczak used had been purchased "entirely legally" under Illinois laws, which require a three-day waiting period. Williams speculated that a pending Second Amendment case before the Supreme Court "could make it more difficult to restrict gun ownership." On ABC's A Closer Look, David Muir told us that "twelve states are right now considering whether to allow concealed weapons on public university campuses." A Texas student explained that he wanted to bring his gun to class to be able to shoot back if violence erupted: "Right now the only recourse they have it to hide under a desk and pray."
