Love, not an academic requirement, put Daniel Parmenter in Cole Hall that fateful day.

Parmenter's family recently learned from Northern Illinois University that he was not enrolled in the ocean science class where five students were shot and killed, his stepfather Bob Greer said. Parmenter, a 20-year-old finance major, attended the lecture so he could spend Valentine's Day afternoon with his girlfriend, Lauren Debrauwere, who was a student in the course.

When Steven Kazmierczak began shooting, Parmenter dropped to the ground with his girlfriend and covered her with his 6-foot-5 frame. She survived the attack. He did not.

"We assumed he was enrolled in the class," Greer said. "But he went for Lauren and he saved her life."