A gunman shot 22 people at Northern Illinois University yesterday before killing himself, leaving five students dead by the end of the day, university officials said.

The male shooter, armed with one shotgun and two handguns, began firing shots at a campus lecture hall around 3 p.m. and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene, said Pat Erickson, the administrative assistant for the campus's of public affairs.

Three students were killed at the scene while two students died in hospitals, Erickson said.

"(University) police officers were on the scene in less than two minutes and the gunman was found dead with a self-inflicted gun shot wound a short time later," Erickson said.

The shooter, whose name has not been released, was a sociology graduate student at the university last spring, but was not currently enrolled, university officials said.

Several students described the campus as quiet and numb following yesterday's shooting.

"It's just kind of surreal," said senior Kristen Nesemeier said. "(The students) are just quiet. They are not very talkative or anything."

As word of the shooting spread, campus residence halls were immediately put on lockdown, Nesemeier said.

Additionally, the university began encouraging students to take advantage of counseling centers available in the campus residence halls.

"We've asked them to reach out to each other during this difficult time, and they've done that, and I'm proud of them," said university president John Peters.

Many are now drawing comparisons between the incident and last April's Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University tragedy, when a student killed 32 people on campus.

Like many students during last year's tragedy, junior Anthony Rosa said he had heard of the shooting through phone calls and text messages.

"I heard from a friend. She had called me," said Rosa, who works as residence hall supervisor. "I was shocked. I wasn't sure if it was for sure."

He added that he was supposed to attend class at the lecture hall where the shooting took place, but had to be at physical therapy instead.

Following the tragedy, many students headed home as the university cancelled all campus activities and classes until Tuesday.

"People are leaving," said Nesemeier, who works at a campus residence hall. "I just see inside. People walk out of the building right now with all their luggage."

UC Berkeley's University Health Services gave their sympathy to the university, though no UC Berkeley students had called in for counseling as of yesterday, said Kim Lapean, communications manager for University Health Services.

She added that University Health Services will be taking a proactive approach today, including updating the counseling resources Web site to reach out to those who may have been affected.

"(The tragedy) is unfortunate," Lapean said. "We also, in situations like this, tend to do a lot of group counseling."

By 9 p.m last night, over 18,000 people had joined Pray for Northern Illinois University Students and Families, a Facebook group dedicated to the tragedy.

Tags: NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, SHOOTING