Professor at my college raped and killed in her classroom

This last Sunday (23 JAN 2005), a 60-year old professor at the college I attend (Lansing Community College in Michigan) was raped an murdered in her classroom before class

Thank goodness that this happened in a pistol-free zone (college classroom). If Carolyn Kronenberg had used a pistol to defend herself, well that would have been a real tragedy, unlike what happened below:
--------------------------------------------------
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050127/NEWS01/501270336/1002

LCC student charged in teacher's slaying
Lansing man, 27, accused in rape, killing of professor on campus


By James McCurtis Jr.
Lansing State Journal

Claude Zain McCollum, 27, of Lansing is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 4 in Lansing District Court. At the hearing, a judge will determine if there's enough evidence for a trial.

A 27-year-old LCC student described by his family as "mentally confused" was arraigned Wednesday on charges of raping and killing a longtime professor at the college.

A student found Carolyn Kronenberg, 60, Sunday morning inside the college's Student and Personnel Services Building, minutes before she was to teach a class.

An initial autopsy report showed Kronenberg died from blunt force trauma to the head, Ingham County Medical Examiner Dean Sienko said.

Claude Zain McCollum of Lansing faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He is held without bail at the Ingham County Jail and did not return a call seeking comment. McCollum does not have an attorney.

Officials said McCollum was not in any of Kronenberg's classes and they are not sure whether the two knew each other.

"There's a combination of anger, fear, concern and shock and disbelief that this could happen, much less by an LCC student," said Ruth Borger, vice president of college advancement. "But we have to be resolved to move on and protect the community."

Borger did not know how long McCollum has been a student at Lansing Community College or what he was studying.

A preliminary hearing, which determines if there's enough evidence for a trial, is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Feb. 4.

McCollum, who appeared in Lansing District Court via video, stood with his head down and listened as Judge Patrick Cherry asked the LCC student if he understood his right to the hearing.

"Did you receive written notice of that?" Cherry asked.

"Yes," McCollum answered.

"Do you want to apply for a court-appointed attorney?" Cherry asked.

"Yes," McCollum said.

Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said he wasn't aware of Kronenberg having made any complaints about a student harassing her. The attack may have been a random act, he said.

Dunnings said that to his knowledge, McCollum does not have a criminal record.

Carol McCollum, Claude McCollum's aunt, said her nephew was taking computer classes at LCC.

Family members describe McCollum as a nonaggressive person who is easily taken advantage of.

The family had encouraged him to go back to school "to try to stimulate his mind," Carol McCollum said, after he had been out of work for three or four months.

Carol McCollum said police may have arrested her nephew because he tends to be slow to react.

"He's always been a little mentally confused," she said.

"He might have not known how to express himself."

Meanwhile, LCC officials said they want to increase security on campus, perhaps by adding more surveillance cameras. They don't have detailed plans yet.

Borger said LCC has 32 officers on the campus of some 19,500 students.

"We have excellent security but even the best security needs to be reviewed," Borger said.

The homicide is believed to be the first on campus in LCC's 47-year history.

Kronenberg, a Gladwin resident, had worked at LCC for 25 years.

She specialized in teaching student development courses such as Successful Interpersonal Relationships.

Kronenberg had been scheduled to teach a Techniques of Study course to 15 to 30 students Sunday morning.

Third-year LCC student Jennifer Hoang, 21, said she feels safer on campus now that a suspect is in custody.

"I felt kind of scared at first, but, well, right now, it's OK," Hoang said.

Staff reporter Kevin Grasha contributed to this report. Contact James McCurtis Jr. at 377-1046 or jmccurti@lsj.com.

Thank goodness that this happened in a pistol-free zone (college classroom). If Carolyn Kronenberg had used a pistol to defend herself, well that would have been a real tragedy, unlike what happened below

OK, I am going to finally say it. I don't see how the law being how it is would have affected her. Unless I missed it, nowhere in there did it say that she had a CCW. Nowhere in there did it say that she had to leave her pistol in the car because of the law.

Note that I am not saying the laws shouldn't be changed. If you are a law abiding citizen, you should carry a pistol with you where ever you want. I am just saying in these instances, where someone is murdered in a pistol free zone, I don't think it is always reasonable to jump on the law. I would be willing to bet that very few people killed in pistol free zones, or are around people killed, actually carry a pistol around with them on a regular basis.

Third-year LCC student Jennifer Hoang, 21, said she feels safer on campus now that a suspect is in custody.

I didn't know that campuses had a designated number of criminals. So now that the designated murderer is in custody, she only has to worry about the 3 designated rapists, the 7 designated muggers, and the 2 designated crazed stalkers.

Jefnvk,I teach at a small public college that used to be a two-year school that is now changing over to a four-year.

I am certified by the Arkansas State Police as a CCW instructor.

I am also certified by the NRA as a pistol instructor and a rifle coach.

Even though I actually teach CCW for the state of Arkansas, I myself do not yet have my own Arkansas CCW permit exactly because it would do me no good at all most of the time.

I am forbidden by law from carrying on campus, where I spend most of each day during the week.

Let me say that again.......

I teach the Arkansas CCW class, but don't have an Arkansas CCW permit because I spend so much time on campus my Arkansas CCW would be useless.

However, if I could legally carry on campus, I would do so every single day.

I will also say that I have sent off the paperwork for a Florida non-resident permit, and am awaiting its arrival in the mail.

But even once I get my Florida CCW permit, it will be largely useless to me as I cannot legally carry on campus where I work.

I cannot even have one in my vehicle that's parked out on the campus parking lot.

If I were ever faced by a violent, armed person on campus bent on death and destruction, there's not a whole hell of a lot I could do about it, because of the idiotic, stupid law.

hillbilly

Third-year LCC student Jennifer Hoang, 21, said she feels safer on campus now that a suspect is in custody.

"I felt kind of scared at first, but, well, right now, it's OK," Hoang said.

Right.

Of course, since they don't know if they have the correct suspect, there's no reason to feel safe, but ... whatever works, I guess.

Lemme, see ... 32 officers for 19,500 people. Three shifts, so what with allowing for weekends and such, that's maybe 8 officers per shift. That's one officer for each 2437.5 people on campus -- and I'm sure not every officer is on patrol during every shift. Those aren't terrific odds.

Lemme, see ... 32 officers for 19,500 people. Three shifts, so what with allowing for weekends and such, that's maybe 8 officers per shift. That's one officer for each 2437.5 people on campus -- and I'm sure not every officer is on patrol during every shift. Those aren't terrific odds.

I don't know if they actually have 8 officers on for every shift. What I do know is that the LCC campus is only the size of one city block and has no resident-students. No dorms, I mean. So it's unlikely that all, or even a significant portion of the 19,500 students are on campus at any one time.

Some things are unavoidable. You cannot prepare for every contingency. It's entirely possible, even probable, that the professor was not engaging in any risky behavior and could not have foreseen the attack coming. She would most probably not have been able to defend herself even if armed.

Jefnvk, since I am in Arkansas, here are some killings that I can think of in "gun free zones" just inside Arkansas.

In the first one, I used to have an office inside the building where it happened, and knew both the shooter and victim.

http://pigtrail.uark.edu/news/NEWS_ARCHIVES/SEP00/response.html

Here's another one.....

http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/24/school.shooting/

Then there's the case of Willie "Si-Fu" Parker who murdered a Benton County Sheriff's deputy inside the Sheriff's Office...and of course, the County Sheriff's office is a "gun free zone" for anyone who isn't a law enforcement officer, which Willie was not. (He picked up the name "Si-Fu" in prison after converting to Buddhism before he was executed in the mid-1990s).

There've been all sorts of murders and killings in parks in Arkansas....city, county, state, and national parks. And every single one of those is a "gun-free zone."

Yeah, Arkansas recently amended its CCW law to allow licensed carry in parks, but if the park authority puts up a sign at the entrance saying "No Guns" then it's still illegal.

And now, every single park has the "No Guns" sign, so it's still as illegal as it used to be.

This kid didn't "kill" anybody, but not for lack of trying in a "gun free zone."

http://www.cnn.com/US/9712/19/school.shooting/

And these are just the ones I can conjure up in a few minutes.

hillbilly

At my GF's college there was 3 rapes in a week then 1 a week for the next couple weeks. Girls were walking back to their dorm early night after class and were getting attacked. I got her some pepper spray. Shortly after a guy in their class started walking some of the girls back to their dorms. Nice guy. The rapist attacked another girl but this time a group of the baseball players saw it... needless to say the guy got what was coming to him. And then went to jail.

LCC isn't exactly in the nicest part of town.

Jefnvk, I don't know if Ms. Kronenberg had a carry permit, and even if she did, if she ever carried. I think the point SS was raising was that, by law, many of us that would carry on campus do not. Presumably, the pistol-free zones were established because some people thought that there are some places that people shouldn't be allowed to have guns.

When I attended MSU, it had the second highest violent crime rate of any college, but guns were forbidden on campus to all except DPS. I think incidents like this highlight the danger on some campuses and show how ineffective pistol-free zones are in preventing crime.

hillbilly, I understand completely what you are saying. I completely agree that you should be able to carry your pistol anywhere.

What I am talking about is anytime someone is murdered, someone will jump in and say 'if only that law wouldn't have been there, she could have had her pistol in class', without knowing if she even had a pistol. For all we know, she was a rabid anti who wouldn't have used a gun to save her life.

Had the story gone something aloing the lines of 'She always carried a pistol, because she felt she was responsible for her safety. Unfortunately, she was also a law abiding citizen, which prevented her from carrying her pistol in school', I too would be agreeing that the law was what helped to kill her.

I guess what I am saying, is that if the law wern't there, would she have been carrying? I am inclined to say probably not.

EDIT - I am not trying to change anyone's opinion. I just feel that saying had he/she been carrying everytime someone is murdered, raped, plundered isn't getting anyone anywhere (arguing on the internet, that is). If you can use it to push CCW laws on an emotional basis, much like most of the anti-gun campaign is run on everytime someone is killed, so much the better.

And I agree that law abiding citizens should be able to carry weapons anywhere. My point is just because you can, doesn't mean most people will. And without any other proof, right now I get the feeling that most people wouldn't be armed if the law allowed them too anyways.

STUPID LAWS!!!!!!!!!!! Stupid, stupid, stupid laws!!!!

So many times after class I hoped I had my gun with me. Just in case you know.

Gus

Makes me wonder if our campuses are going to wind up like the UK before we develop some sense.

When my wife was in college, she awoke in the middle of the night to find a large guy at the foot of her bed, fondling her underthings. She and her roomie started screaming, waking the other roomies, and fortunately, the guy decided to leave.

They found that he had been in other roomies' rooms, too. He left with my wife's drivers license and a few other personals.

Campus security was less than completely helpful.

Fortunately, I married her a week later, changed her name and her address, and she graduated.

Claude Zain McCollum of Lansing faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

She gets death. He gets life. Something's wrong with this picture.

She gets death. He gets life. Something's wrong with this picture. Amen to that!

Wrong so very very wrong.

jefnvk - I think when people say comments about if it wasn’t a gun free zone the victim would have survived or had a better chance, most of us are not thinking that the particular victim in question even owned a handgun or had a ccw permit.

Most of us on this board take responsibility for our own actions and own protection and think "That could have been me (or my mom, sister, wife etc) in that victim disarmament zone unable to protect themselves".

The other reason I think we all jump on the gun free zones is that they only disarm the victims. The criminals continue to break the law and enter the zones armed and commit heinous acts and if we want to protect ourselves in these zones, we have to become law breakers ourselves (or use less effective means of defense).

Those two things are why everyone jumps on stories like this with the "if only". Its not that we think this particular victim had the training, will and weapons, it is ourselves or a loved one in the same situation we worry about.

I think she may have hit on something here.... :rolleyes:

"He might have not known how to express himself."

This hits home for me since I attended LCC about 10-12 years ago.