Daniel Parmenter

Parmenter, 20, of Westchester, was described as a “gentle giant” by Maria Krull, an adviser at the NIU student newspaper. Parmenter was a sophomore studying finance and a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity where “Dan was always helping other people out, giving you a ride to class, helping with homework, doing community service,” said Eta Nu Chapter President Jason Garcia. Known as Danny, he sold ads for the Northern Star campus paper. At York High School in Elmhurst, he played football as a defensive end.

Krull, business staff adviser for the campus paper, said she last saw Parmenter stretched out on “an old beat-up couch” in the newspaper’s offices. She teased him about having his feet on the furniture. “I said, ‘Danny, you know better than that.'”

“The thing about Danny was, if he was in the office and I needed something done, I just had to mention it to him and he would do it,” Krull said. “I knew I didn’t have to worry.”

Catalina Garcia

Garcia, 20, of Cicero, was studying to become a teacher. She was the youngest of four siblings in a family from Guadalajara, Mexico, that had settled in suburban Cicero, west of Chicago.

“She was adored by our family because she wanted to become somebody in life – that’s what she was going to school,” her father, Jacinto Garcia, told Spanish-language radio station WOJO-FM, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

She was a 2006 graduate of Morton East High School, where she belonged to the Yearbook Club and a campus dance group.

She was shy, very bright and a good student, recalled Michael Parrie, her chemistry teacher junior year.

“She always had a smile on her face, such a positive attitude and outlook on life. It was contagious,” Parrie said.

“I feel this is a real loss. It saddens me that an individual could take away Catalina’s great potential for life. It’s very disturbing.”

Ryanne Mace

Mace, 19, of Carpentersville, was a sophomore studying psychology. She recently posted on her MySpace Web page: “Happy Valentine’s Day Everybody! … Saying you love someone is not enough, it’s how you treat them that shows your true feelings.” She was a 2006 graduate of Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville and a recipient of a scholarship from the high school’s French Club, according to The (Crystal Lake) Northwest Herald.

Her mother, Mary Kay Mace, told The Associated Press she and her husband named their only child Ryanne, and pronounced it like the boy’s name Ryan, because “we thought we were having a boy.”

“She was beautiful and brilliant and caring,” Mace said of her daughter. “She wanted to start a career helping people. She was in psychology to become a counselor. She was our only child, the light of our lives.”

Julianna Gehant

Gehant, 32, of Meriden, spent a stint in the U.S. Army, where she taught construction, then enrolled at NIU with hopes of becoming an elementary school teacher. Known as Julie, she was a 1994 graduate of Mendota Township High School, where she was active in art and set design for the school plays.

Retired drama teacher Dave Schroeder remembered her as an openhearted young woman with a keen sense of humor and warm laugh. In her 2007 Christmas card to him, she wrote, “I have four more semesters until I’m qualified to teach second graders.”

“I told her I wanted to be one of the first ones to give her a recommendation” for the job, he said. “It’s just a terrible loss,” Schroeder said. “For someone to do something like this, it’s just stupid.”

Gayle Dubowski

Dubowski, 20, of Carol Stream, was a sophomore at NIU. “She was a good person with a big heart,” said a friend, Kelly Cavanaugh, who met her at the DeKalb Church of Christ.

Dubowski graduated from Glenbard North High School in 2006 where she sang in the choir, said Principal John Mensik. Teachers were in tears Friday morning when they heard the news, Mensik said.

“She worked as a teacher’s aide for some of the teachers,” the principal said. “She was a very positive student. … She touched people.”

Amanda Kent, 21, a fellow NIU student, said she was in Dubowski’s second year Russian class and saw her Thursday before the shooting.

“She was very sweet. She was sort of shy, but always had a smile on her face,” Kent said.

Laura Moss wrote on a memorial page set up for Dubowski on the Facebook social networking Web site: “She was so happy, open and serving. i know that she shone so brightly for God on that campus.”

Stephen Kazmierczak

Kazmierczak, 27, was the gunman. Officials said he was a “stellar student” when he attended NIU, winning at least two awards and serving as an officer in a student group dedicated to promoting “understanding of all areas of the criminal justice system.” Police said he recently “become erratic” after halting his medication. He concealed the shotgun used in the killings inside a guitar case.