Goudie wrong in pointing finger

The NIU tragedy has hit hard in our family. My son-in-law, oldest daughter and I are all NIU graduates. My younger daughter will be graduating in May from Northern. All four of us had classes in Cole Hall.

My daughter had a close friend who was one of the students shot on that day, but he was also one of the fortunate who recovered quickly, with no long-term physical scars.

I am amazed by the quick and compassionate response to this horrific tragedy by the NIU president, campus police and all others who were involved in protecting the students physically and emotionally.

I am saddened by the deaths of the students, by the pain those who are recovering will endure and for the suffering the families of all who died or injured will experience forever.

I am disturbed by an article written by Chuck Goudie titled: "There were many red flags before NIU attack."

It is a simple process to track history to link individual incidences to any event. What is impossible to do is to get these "red flags" added together before something like this happens. How can you make people responsible for what might happen?

It is not legal or ethical to force an unstable person to take medication. It is impossible to incarcerate a person for any length of time because of mental instability.

We could call for a ban on handguns designed only for the purpose of killing humans. But there was no realistic way to have prevented this.

The saddest part of all is that there will most likely be no way to keep this from happening again.

Diane Scott

Huntley