DeKALB | Mixed feelings flowed through the minds of students in the wake of Tuesday night’s shooting.

The shooting left NIU football linebacker Devon Butler in critical condition after he was struck by a bullet while visiting friends at an apartment building on Aspen Drive.

“The shooting terrifies me,” said Binita Patel, a junior studying nursing. “It makes my parents scared and it makes me consider going to a different university. We should have more cops around the school and patrolling the streets.”

Sarah Wiley, a graduate student getting her M.A. in history, disagreed with Patel and said she still feels the campus is safe.

“There is only so much a university and town can do,” Wiley said. “It makes me more sad than anything.”

Michael Tusiime, gradutate student in curriculum leadership, shares similar feelings about the situation.

“My feelings toward NIU have not really changed,” Tusiime said. “It makes me feel sad about the fact that people can be so bad to each other. It was an isolated incident and you can see it just about everywhere in the world. I would just encourage students to be positive and good to each other.”

Maurice Bell, junior studying business management, said she believes NIU and DeKalb are doing everything they can to help the community.

“These kinds of bad things happen especially in an area with so many people,” Bell said.

Kayde Merrell, a junior studying psychology, said cops can’t be blamed for students putting themselves in life threatening positions.

Some students feel that the many incidents of this nature over the last five years, something more should be done.

“I was an undergraduate student back in 2003 and I remember walking around campus and feeling safe,” said Michelle Faler, a graduate student studying Film and Literature. “With all of the things that happened between then and now I definitely have a feeling of discomfort. There is no need to go to extremes but I feel that something should definitely be done to beef up security.”

Other students believe the issue isn’t with NIU but with America.

“Violence in American culture is so ingrained in our system that it is a much bigger issue than NIU,” said Grant Garrison, a senior studying speech communication. “This kind of senseless violence will continue to get worse unless we discover what it is in America that sparks it.”