DEKALB -- Not far from police wielding automatic rifles and the camera-toting media throngs that descended on this snow-covered campus following Thursday's shooting rampage, dozens of Northern Illinois University students huddled in the frigid night air to support each other and pray for strength.

"I don't think that after this, we can ever be the same again if we don't come together," said Kevin Singer, 20, of Naperville, who led an impromptu vigil that included members of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. "We can rise up as student body, as a community of believers."

Only a few hours after shotgun blasts rang out inside a packed lecture hall -- killing at least seven and wounding several more -- classmates of the fallen lit candles, sang and held each other, many straining through sobs and tears to make sense of it all.

"Lets pray our campus can come away from this and find a bigger purpose," he said. "This is an unbelievable tragedy."

Not far away from the vigil at NIU's Central Park, a procession of cars lined up outside the Grant residence hall as student after student packed their things into trunks to leave the campus of 25,000 -- at least for a few days. All classes today have been canceled, though residence halls remained open and many said they planned to remain on campus to support their classmates and friends.

Still others couldn't wait to go home to their families.

"I'm going home, this is unbelievable," said a visibly shaken student, who said he was from Gurnee but did not give his name before speeding off.

Among the seriously wounded was Harold Ng, said Singer. He urged the group to pray for his recovery. Many at the gathering knew Ng from a retreat he attended last fall.

Late into the night, dozens of squad cars blocked access to the crime scene as investigators continued to piece together a tragedy that began about 3 p.m., when a young man dressed in black emerged behind a Jameson Auditorium curtain with a 12-gauge shotgun, blasting away.

John Puterbaugh, editor of the Northern Star student newspaper, was at Reavis Hall near the crime scene when students barged in screaming about someone shooting students next door. Puterbaugh ran outside to find a throng of students pouring out of the building, some of them bloody and screaming, most of them simply running away.

"There was blood everywhere," he said. "Everyone, even the police, no one seemed to know what was happening."

Some of the wounded were placed near a fountain area outside. Puterbaugh said he saw a student carried out of the building by fellow students and police before everyone was ordered to clear the area immediately.

A press conference was scheduled for 9 a.m. today, where police and university authorities were expected to provide more details on what may have prompted the gunman to kill and wound so many before taking his own life.

Meanwhile, Singer told the group to pray through the night for NIU before picking up his guitar to lead the group in singing "Amazing Grace."

"Even though its freezing, it was awesome to see so many here together tonight," he said. "As believers and students, this is what we are called to do."