Gov. Rod Blagojevich spoke today at a press conference at NIU to express his condolences to the campus community.

“I came here today because I personally wanted to not just walk on the campus and see things and learn things, but I wanted to personally express my condolences to the Northern Illinois University community,” Blagojevich said.

Yesterday’s shooting was a tragic, senseless and horrific event, Blagojevich said.

“At an institution devoted to learning, we’ve seen a terrible act of unthinkable evil,” he said. “We will work with the University to help the community return to its core mission of education.”

Blagojevich expressed a need to find a way to anticipate these tragedies so they could be stopped beforehand.

He also extended gratitude to emergency services.

“Thanks to everyone who has opened their hearts and reached out to lend a hand, and I especially want to commend all the emergency personnel who are working hard to help the NIU community,” he said. “Our prayers are with the families of those who lost a loved one and for the recovery of those who were injured in this senseless tragedy.”

Blagojevich said the Illinois State Police will continue to work with local police and FBI to investigate the shooting and work to understand the motive of the assailant.

Also he said he would be working with the education community “to keep them updated on what we found so they can also review their safety plans and safety rules”.

Blagojevich wanted to express his condolences to the families.

“What I would say to the students is, ‘since the beginning of time, the greatest thinkers you meet, a lot of them on university campuses like this, have tried to sort out why it is that there is the eternal struggle of good versus evil,” Blagojevich said. “[…] You see the best of people during these very difficult of times in the worst of circumstances like this unthinkable act of evil, brings out the best of people.”

Blagojevich said he saw this type of behavior on campus today and saw students helping and supporting one another, parents coming together to be with their kids and the community coming together to help one another.

He also discussed the wide range of support from fellow Illinois universities: Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Southern Illinois University by sending counselors from who all came out to help the students of NIU.