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Web Connects Mourning NIU Students

Posted Feb 15, 08 1:21 PM CST in Technology,  US 

(Newser) – With cellphone lines on much of the campus jammed, Northern Illinois University students turned to the Internet to let friends and loved ones know they had survived yesterday’s shooting and to console each other, the Chicago Tribune reports. Most logged on to Facebook, where 10,000 joined a prayer group, while others updated status messages to proclaim themselves unharmed.

“(I’m) OK but flustered, upset, and in disbelief,” read a typical message. Cellphone traffic in the region spiked to 14 times normal following the shooting, according to Verizon, meaning many calls wouldn't go through. “I found out by Facebook that one of my friends was a victim,” one sophomore said via Instant Messenger. “She was in critical condition.”

Source Chicago Tribune

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A few flowers are placed by the crime scene tape Friday, Feb. 15, 2008 in front of Cole Hall on Northern Illinois University campus, where a gunman killed five students and wounded 16 others Thursday...   (Associated Press)
Sorority members of Northern Illinois University participate in a candlelight vigil for Dan Parmenter early Friday, Feb. 15, 2008. Parmenter is one of the five victims of the NIU shooting Thursday in...   (Associated Press)
Students, from left, Sara Johnson, Alli Grissom, and Kelly Cohley sing and pray during a vigil near Stevens Hall on the Northern Illinois University Campus Thursday Feb. 14, 2008 after after a shooting...   (Associated Press)
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cell phones  • Facebook  • social networking  • Verizon  • school shooting  • Northern Illinois University


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