We'll never know why it happened

Ever since the shootings at NIU, everyone asks why?

I think there's really no good answer to that question other than the young man was mentally deficient and off the drugs prescribed for him.

Those closest to him described him as a fine, caring person. He was an "A" student and had a bright future. That was when he was taking his medication.

When he stopped taking the drugs, he became the person he really was.

Had the state known he had violent tendencies, maybe he couldn't have bought weapons. Maybe those in the medical profession should have reported him to the state and they would have known he was unstable. That may have been impossible because of privacy laws.

We'll never know.

All we really know now is we will never have any answer to that question.

Timothy D. O'Reilly

Chicago