Former Northern Illinois University student Ashley Wilson of Plainfield lays roses Sunday in front of the memorial honoring victims of the 2008 shooting at Cole Hall on the school's DeKalb campus. A ceremony was held Sunday to mark the 13th anniversary of the shooting that left five students dead and 21 injured.
Mark Black/Shaw Media Illinois
The lives of five students killed in 2008 when a gunman burst into a Northern Illinois University lecture hall and opened fire were honored Sunday during a solemn gathering marking the 13th anniversary of the mass shooting.
Family members of the victims, former students and others assembled in the extreme cold to remember the tragedy, in a service held at the Peaceful Reflection Garden on NIU's DeKalb campus. Bells tolled five times at 3:06 p.m. - the time of the shooting - in memory of the slain students. Wreaths were laid in front of five stone slabs, each engraved with one of the victims' names.
The shooting occurred Valentine's Day 2008, when a former student walked into an oceanography class at NIU's Cole Hall carrying multiple guns and began shooting. He killed five students and injured 21 others before killing himself.
Killed were Gayle Dubowski, 20, of Carol Stream; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester; and Julianna Gehant, 32, of Mendota.
Roses lay on top of a stone slab at the Peaceful Reflection Garden outside Cole Hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. A ceremony was held Sunday to honor victims of the Feb. 14, 2008 shooting in the lecture hall that killed five students.
Mark Black/Shaw Media Illinois
Family, friends and others gathered Sunday in the Peaceful Reflection Garden outside Cole Hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University to remember the five lives lost in a mass shooting Feb. 14, 2008 on the DeKalb campus.
Mark Black/Shaw Media Illinois
Charlotte Gehant of Harvard lays a wreath Sunday at the Peaceful Reflection Garden in memory of her niece, Julianna Gehant. The 32-year-old Mendota resident was one of five students killed when a gunman burst into NIU's Cole Hall on Feb. 14, 2008 and opened fire.
Mark Black/Shaw Media Illinois
Charlotte and Larry Gehant of Harvard visit a memorial to their niece, Julianna Gehant, on Sunday, the 13th anniversary of a mass shooting that killed her and four other students on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.
Mark Black/Shaw Media Illinois
Mourners gathered Sunday at the Peaceful Reflection Garden outside Cole Hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb to mark the 13th anniversary of the shooting that left five students dead and 21 injured.
Mark Black / Shaw Media Illinois
Former Northern Illinois University student Ashley Wilson of Plainfield lays roses at Northern Illinois University' Peaceful Reflection Garden on Sunday during a ceremony to remember the victims of a mass shooting Feb. 14, 2008 in the school's Cole Hall.
Mark Black / Shaw Media Illinois
Julianna Gehant
Daniel Parmenter
Gayle Dubowski
Ryanne Mace
Catalina Garcia