NIU plans 5 minutes of silence Thursday

At 3:06 p.m. Thursday, Northern Illinois University will go completely silent.

Precisely one week after a gunman shot and killed five students, the university and surrounding community will observe five minutes of silence - one minute for each victim.

NIU President John Peters will make brief remarks at 3 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Commons, in the middle of campus.

Bells at the Holmes Student Center and at churches in the surrounding community will chime until 3:11 p.m. - one minute for each of the students killed in the shooting.

The university invites all Illinoisans - wherever they are - to join in remembering the lost students at 3:06 p.m.