“Person of concern” Kurt Johnson showed up on NCC’s campus 6 p.m. Thursday, drawing the attention of students and Campus Safety. Johnson, clad in a ski cap and leather jacket, stood on Brainard Avenue between Seager Residence Hall and the Kaufman Dining Hall. As students walked to dinner, Johnson attempted to distribute printed screenshots of a tweet containing information about his rejection from a Master’s of Leadership program at the college.
Johnson was labeled a ‘person of concern’ by NCC’s Campus Safety team 24 hours before his appearance in front of Kaufman. Students were instructed to contact Campus Safety or the Naperville Police Department if they saw him on the premises.
Both services responded to the situation, and Johnson was seen filming the situation on his cell phone. Johnson “spent almost two decades behind bars for the 1993 murder of Michael Beshoar,” according to a 2015 article by the Chicago Tribune. The college has issued a no trespassing order on Johnson.
Students in Kaufman watched the confrontation between Johnson and the police from the large windows in the dining hall. Campus Safety officers wandered around the area, and some students at tables clutched the flyers Johnson had handed them.
A sophomore elementary education student at NCC spoke about the event. “It was so weird, realizing that basically all that was separating me from a convicted murderer was a window. When I first heard about him, it just seemed like another news story. Seeing him standing out there made it a reality.”
After the notice issued Wednesday, some students began to take precautions. “My volleyball team decided it would be best to download an app called SafeTrek to make sure we are safe as we move around campus,” said student Maya Bryant, ’20.
Jordan Nowlin, ’21, struck up a conversation with Johnson. “I felt like I was talking to any other person. I don’t think he is a person that should be feared the way he is around campus,” he said. “I am not saying to go make friends with the guy. I am just saying that he is a human and it doesn’t feel like we’re treating him like one.”
Johnson distributes flyers on Brainard Avenue. Staff photo
On Jan. 11, Johnson began posting tweets claiming he was undertaking a solo road trip to Las Vegas. Photos and videos posted to his Twitter account placed him in Walcott, Iowa; Iowa City; Osceola, Iowa; Oakley, Kan.; and Denver. These tweets appear to be contradicted by his appearance in Naperville, noted by students on Jan. 15 and 16, and most recently this evening.
Director of Campus Safety Ashley Klco said in an interview earlier today that the decision to send the safety bulletin to the campus community Wednesday was not based on any singular incident. While Johnson has had an ongoing situation with NCC since late 2017 and began posting pictures of the college online in September 2018, it was not until Jan. 16 that students were made aware of the situation.
Klco said that the alert was sent out of “an abundance of caution, that there was no imminent threat and that’s important.”
