MADISON, Wis. — The shooting at Northern Illinois University Thursday is the fourth at a U.S. school in a week, and the tragedy is hitting close to home for many families in southern Wisconsin.Some Rock County parents whose children are students at NIU all said they heard about the incident first through TV or radio. But in some cases, it was well more than an hour before they knew their children were OK.
Dave Smith’s daughter is a junior at Northern Illinois. He said that when he and his wife found out, they tried to track down their daughter, who was in basketball practice. Because of communications problems, the Janesville parents had to wait for their daughter to call them.