Mass shooting on Michigan State University Campus

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Multiple people were reported wounded in shootings Monday night on the Michigan State University campus, police said.

On Twitter, university police said there appeared to be only one suspect, later described as a “short male with a mask.”

“We are still receiving multiple calls of an active shooter on campus,” police said.
Authorities ordered students and staff to shelter in place after a report of shots fired around Berkey Hall on the school’s East Lansing campus.

In an alert sent shortly after 8:30 p.m., campus police reported a “shots fired incident occurring on or near the East Lansing campus.” The alert advised students and staff to “Secure-in-Place immediately” and to monitor alert.msu.edu for information.

MSU police said in a later tweet “There is another reported shooting at IM East. (a recreational facility). Police are responding. There are multiple reported injuries.”

The shooter who killed three people and hurt five others on the campus of Michigan State University on Monday night is now dead, sources said.

He was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound near Lake Lansing and Larch roads after an hours-long manhunt.

olice said they no longer believe there is a threat and there is no need to shelter in place now.

According to MSU, shots were fired inside Berkey Hall at 8:18 p.m, which is on the northern boundary of campus in East Lansing. First responders found shooting victims at Berkey Hall. The scene moved to the nearby MSU Union, where police also tended to victims.

Police initially said there were five people hurt before confirming the three fatalities later Monday night. Two of the fatal shootings happened in Berkey Hall, while the third fatality was in the MSU Union, police said.

Here's what we know and don't know so far about the deadly shooting at Michigan State University
The victims: All three people who died were students, according to police. The five injured are also students, police said. The chief medical officer of the hospital where they are being treated said the students had life-threatening injuries that vary in nature. Four of them required surgery, one did not. All of them remain in critical condition.

The suspect: Police identified the suspected gunman as 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae following tips from the community. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. McRae is not known to be affiliated with the university in the capacity of a current or former student, faculty or staff.

The weapon:Authorities have recovered a weapon, but they have not determined if it was the one used in Monday's shooting.

The search warrant: A search warrant was executed on a residence that was connected to the suspect, but authorities are not yet confirming if it was the shooter's residence. They also declined to share any more information about the residence.

What we don't know: Authorities declined to share the identities of the deceased and injured students. They are still investigating the motive. While a weapon was recovered, law enforcement officials did not share more information about it.



MSU students smashed a classroom window open and helped others climb out after shooting, witness says
Michigan State University student Claire Papoulias told CNN she was inside the classroom that the suspect shot into Monday night, adding that a couple of students who were brave enough to smash open a window and assisted students to climb out, helped save lives.

Papoulias, 19, who is a sophomore studying psychology, was taking a history class on Cuba inside Berkey Hall when the shooter opened fire in her classroom, Papoulias said.

“The teacher was presenting a lesson and all of sudden I heard gunshots directly behind me. That’s when the shooter opened the back classroom door and started firing at my classmates in the back, wounding them. I smelled and saw the gunpowder,” Papoulias said.

“Everyone then dropped to the floor immediately and someone started yelling ‘Shooter, everybody get down!'” she told CNN.

Papoulias said she remembers thinking she was going to die but still tried her best to comfort her classmates.

“I thought I was going to die. We didn’t know where he went. Everyone was on the ground huddling, and I just looked at my classmates and told them it was going to be okay," she said.
According to Papoulias, the shooter shot three to four times in her classroom before exiting the room and leaving the door wide open.

“Someone got up and ran to the door to close it after he left. Then we started barricading ourselves in the classroom while other students tried to smash the window open so we could escape," she said.

While some students tried to smash the window open, other students tried to aide to the wounded, Papoulias said.

“One student took his shirt off and tried to stop the bleeding. I heard another student yell, ‘Oh my God, my arm,'" she told CNN.

Once students were able to smash the window open, they began to jump out the first-floor classroom and run to safety, according to Papoulias.

“There was a boy on the other side of the window catching people who were jumping out the window. He stood there and risked his life to catch people,” Papoulias said.

“If they didn’t bust open the window and barricade the door with the table then the shooter would’ve done a lot more damage and taken more lives. My classmates helped everyone and were all in it together," she said.

Papoulias told CNN she ran straight to her dorm where she stood until she was told it was safe to come out.

“My feet hit the ground running. I forgot everything I owned because that didn’t matter. I was focused on making it out alive. I jumped out the window and I ran as fast as I could," she said.


There have been more mass shootings than days in this year so far
There have been more mass shootings than days so far this year and more mass shootings than at this point in any year since at least 2013.

The gunman who police said killed three students and injured five others on Michigan State University’s campus Monday night turned “evil and mean” and became a recluse after his mother's death two years ago, his father said Tuesday in an interview.

Anthony McRae, 43, had a difficult time handling the loss of his mother, Linda McRae, and his demeanor and outlook on life “changed” after she died of a stroke on Sept. 13, 2020, according to his father, Michael McRae.

“He was a mama’s boy. He loved his mom. They were tight. His mom was like his sister," Michael McRae said. “Everything happened so fast."

After her sudden passing, the younger McRae quit his job at a warehouse, where he loaded refrigerators into delivery trucks, and stayed in his room all day playing video games, his father said.

“He was grieving his mom. He wouldn’t let it go. He got bitter, bitter and bitter,” Michael McRae said. “His mom died, and he just started getting evil and mean. He didn’t care about anything anymore."

Michael McRae, who was married to Linda for 45 years, said he tried to encourage his son to apply for jobs, seek counseling and attend church with him.

"I said, 'Talk to daddy. Let me know if something is on your mind. If you need help, I'll get you help,'" the father said. "He said, 'I'm OK, dad, I don't need help."

Michael McRae said he is a "man of God," reads from the Bible every day and tried his best to be a good father to Anthony McRae and his two other children.

"He was a good kid, don't get me wrong," he said. "But you never know what your kid will do when they walk out the door."

Multiple Michigan State students, and their parents, relived the horror of a school shooting on Monday, having lived through massacres in Newtown, Connecticut, and Oxford Township, Michigan.

As soon as senior Jackie Matthews learned there was an active shooter on campus, she started texting her friends to make sure they were safe. Matthews was 11 years old and a student at Reed Intermediate School in Newtown, which neighbors Sandy Hook Elementary School, when the mass shooting occurred there in 2012. She still remembers being on lockdown at Reed.

Now 21, Matthews said those memories came flooding back as MSU was put on lockdown Monday night.

“Something so traumatic is devastating no matter what age you are,” said Matthews, whose TikTok video recounting her experience with the MSU and the Sandy Hook shootings went viral on Tuesday.

Others in the MSU community who have now experienced multiple mass shootings echoed Matthews in their disbelief.

Matthew Riddle's daughter, Emma Grace Riddle, a freshman history major at MSU, survived a shooting at Oxford High School in southeastern Michigan on Nov. 30, 2021. Riddle recalled his chats with Emma in the days immediately after that shooting, 14 and a half months ago.

"'Lightning doesn't strike twice, right? This has happened to you and it can't happen again, right? To Oxford, to you or anybody else,' and frankly that's not true," Riddle said.

Emma called Riddle, a 45-year-old engineer, from the band room at Oxford High when the gunfire broke out there, and then from her dorm in East Lansing on Monday night.

Riddle drove his daughter back to Oxford early Tuesday. Emma plans to return to Michigan State on Sunday night.

Riddle said his daughter is, unfortunately, well equipped to deal with the reopening of school after a mass shooting.

“It sucks to even say this, but she knows what’s coming over the next few days and how to deal with her trauma and what’s going to happen with vigils and the folks who are experiencing it for the first time,” Riddle said.

Andrea Ferguson, whose daughter is also an Oxford H.S. alum and current MSU student, told NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit that she “never expected in my lifetime to have to experience two school shootings.”

“It was like reliving Oxford all over again,” she said. “The phone call, the word shooting, shooter, it was surreal.”

The Oakland County Sheriff Department — which responded to both shootings — took note of the horrific repeat of violence and said in a Facebook post: “We also know that this will be a terrible flashback for our Oxford community, especially those students that graduated from Oxford high school and now attend MSU.”

Jennifer Mancini told the Detroit Free Press that her daughter, an Oxford High School graduate and now a freshman at Michigan State, was across the street from the student union when gunfire erupted on Monday night.

The terrified student called her mother.

“She said, ‘Mom, I hear gunshots … What’s going on?’ “Mancini told the newspaper.

The daughter told her mother she wants to come home.

“I can’t believe this is happening again,” said Mancini. “She said that she had PTSD. She said she can’t believe this is happening again.”

Then-Oxford student Ethan Crumbley gunned down four schoolmates at the campus about 45 miles north of downtown Detroit.

The college students killed in a shooting on Michigan State University’s campus Monday night included a “tremendous” leader and athlete, a “great friend” who was “loved by everyone” and a “straight-A student” who wanted to become a doctor, those who knew them said.

Three students were killed and five were wounded after a gunman opened fire. Police identified the slain students as Alexandria Verner of Clawson, a junior; Brian Fraser of Grosse Pointe, a sophomore; and Arielle Anderson also of Grosse Pointe.

Alexandria Verner
Alexandria, a 2020 graduate of Clawson High School, was "a tremendous student, athlete, leader” and person who “exemplified kindness every day of her life,” Billy Shellenbarger, the superintendent of Clawson Public Schools, said in a statement.

“If you knew her, you loved her and we will forever remember the lasting impact she has had on all of us,” he said.

Alexandria’s father, Ted Verner, told The Washington Post that his daughter, who played basketball, volleyball and softball for all four years of high school, was a “beautiful soul.”

Brian Fraser
Brian, a 2021 graduate of Grosse Pointe South High School, was the president of the Michigan Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Michigan State University, according to the fraternity.

“As the leader of his chapter, Brian was a great friend to his Phi Delta brothers, the Greek community at Michigan State, and those he interacted with on campus,” the fraternity said in a statement. “Phi Delta Theta sends its deepest condolences to the Fraser family, the Michigan Beta Chapter, and all those who loved Brian as they mourn their loss.”

Brian's father, Sean Fraser, told The Detroit News that his son was “a good kid” who was “loved by everyone.”

Jon Dean, the superintendent of the Grosse Pointe Public School System, said in a statement that his heart broke when he heard of the shooting and when he learned two recent graduates from the school system were killed.

“I can’t even process what I just wrote,” he said. “How can we have our community impacted in this personal way?”

He said that Brian and Arielle were “exceptional kids” who were doing great things and “they will be missed.”

Arielle Anderson
Arielle, Dean said, graduated from Grosse Pointe North in 2021.

Tim Davis, her uncle, told the Detroit News that she was "literally just kind-hearted."

“She was just sweet and innocent. She just stayed innocent her whole life. She was soft-spoken. Always helpful. In my opinion, she was just perfect the way she conducted herself," he told the newspaper. "She had great manners and was respectful. She was very smart, a straight-A student. I’m pretty sure you will hear that from everybody.”

Arielle wanted to become a pediatrician, her grandmother April Davis told the Detroit Free Press.

“ She’s kind, loving, caring, compassionate, driven” and “very family oriented,” she told the newspaper

The shooter who gunned down eight students on Michigan State University’s campus Monday had previously pled guilty to a gun charge and was not allowed to carry a firearm.

Neighbors say they often heard gunfire come from Anthony McRae's Lansing home, where he lived with his father.

“It’s kind of scary knowing he could have been here doing the same thing that he was doing out there,” said neighbor Tyler Bender this morning.

Court records reveal that just before 2 a.m. on June 7, 2019, Lansing police found McRae sitting on the steps of an abandoned building.

An officer was patrolling the area due to a rash of burglaries. When confronted, McRae told police he was carrying a .380 semi-automatic pistol. It was loaded, officers found, and there was another magazine in his pocket.

He did not have a CPL and was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a felony. It would be later pled down to a misdemeanor and the shooter served 18 months on probation.

McRae’s neighbors told us they often heard gunfire coming from his Lansing home.

“Throughout the summer there was gunshots once in a while,” said Tyler Bender.

Another neighbor said he heard gunfire “at least a couple times a month.”

The shooter’s criminal history in Michigan is otherwise unremarkable, but police did uncover evidence of threats made in another state.

In the gunman’s pocket Monday night, officers found a note that included threats to two schools in Ewing, New Jersey, where the shooter used to live.

Ewing police said McRae had a history of mental health problems. Neighbors said the gunman’s father seldom talked about his son.

The shooter who opened fire on the campus of Michigan State University on Monday night, killing three people and wounding five, was found with two legally purchased guns, ammunition and a note threatening violence, officials said Thursday.

The shooter had two 9 mm handguns on him, as well as additional magazines and ammunition, Chris Rozman of MSU’s Department of Police and Public Safety said at a news conference.

An investigation with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined those weapons were purchased legally by McRae, but they were not registered. It’s not clear when or where they were purchased.

He also confirmed a note was found on the shooter.

The Chinese consulate in Chicago said two Chinese students were among the injured.

“After undergoing surgical treatment in the hospital, their lives are out of danger,” the consulate said in a statement noting their family members have been contacted.

Officials on Thursday shared a breakdown of the final confrontation with the shooter.

Detectives responded to Lake Lansing Road and Larch Street where the suspect was observed walking and two Lansing Police Department officers made contact, approximately 20 feet from him, Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzalez said.

They exited their vehicle and ordered him to show his hands.

“However, he produced a weapon and killed himself,” Gonzalez said.

Body camera video showed that McRae didn’t say anything to the officers, he said.

The suspect was found with two handguns, one he used to shoot himself, and another in his backpack he was carrying. He also had a loaded magazine "that was full to capacity in his left breast pocket," Gonzalez said.

Michigan State Police did not share exactly what the note found said, but it threatened businesses, a church and a school district in New Jersey.

“Through our investigation, we found that he had contact with some of those places, he was an employee of the Meyer warehouse at one time. And a couple of the other businesses, it appears that he had some issues with the employees there where he was asked to leave. So it looks like he, possibly a motive for that was he felt slighted and that’s kind of what the note indicated," Gonzalez said.

A search warrant was also secured for McRae’s residence and a cellphone was collected, along with “journals of sorts,” miscellaneous writings and fired 9 mm shell casings, Gonzalez said.

Lansing Police Chief Ellery Sosebee detailed previous law enforcement encounters with the shooter.

He said that the department had not responded to any welfare checks for the gunman. He said there was one welfare check at the Lansing address linked to him, but “it was not related to the accused.” He said police had not responded to any calls for shots fired at the address.

Lansing police responded to the gunman’s home in 2005 for a larceny complaint, he had traffic violations in 2006 and 2007 and was arrested in 2019 for carrying a concealed weapon. The weapon in that case is still in police custody, Sosebee said.

A motive in the shooting remains under investigation. Officials acknowledged that McRae had a history of mental health issues, and that is part of the probe.

"It appears from the content of the note that he felt he was slighted in some way by people or businesses. Did mental health issues amplify that or was it a component of that? We're not sure at this point," Rozman said. "That’s the question on all of our minds and we’re doing our best to determine that as best as possible."

MSU classes are suspended through Sunday.

Berkey Hall, where the shooting started, will remain closed for the remainder of the semester. The status of Union Hall, the shooter's next stop, is still being evaluated, said the university's interim president, Teresa K. Woodruff

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The man who shot eight students at Michigan State University, killing three, was found with two handguns and a note containing a possible motive for the attack, police said Thursday.

The 9 mm guns, dozens of rounds of ammunition and the two-page note were found with Anthony McRae when he killed himself Monday night after being confronted by police, said campus deputy chief Chris Rozman.

Investigators said they still were trying to pin down a motive, three days after the violence at the 50,000-student campus in East Lansing, but the note was a key point.

"It appears based on the content of the note that he felt he was slighted in some way by people or businesses," Rozman said at a news conference.  "Did a mental health issue amplify that or was it a component of that?  We are not sure at this point.  We are working our best to try to determine that as best as possible."

The Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety has released several updates related to last month's shooting on campus that left three students dead and several more injured, including sharing photographs of a note that the gunman had in his pocket.

Some content in the note was redacted, but visible text shows McRae claiming to be the leader of a group of 20 people planning multiple mass shootings in nearby towns and New Jersey. Officers from Michigan State University, the Michigan State Police and the FBI have determined that McRae acted alone and that no other locations were under threat, though some New Jersey schools did close the day after the shooting out of an abundance of caution.

The two-page note also included a list of McRae's apparent motives for the shooting. He also drew multiple sad faces on the paper, which is dated Feb. 12, 2023, a day before the chaos at Michigan State.

"They hate me," he wrote multiple times in the note.

Why do I get the feeling that every time a mass shooting happens in this country a Republican lawmaker feels a sense of pleasure?

The republicans and their allies in the NRA will use mass shootings as a reason for civilians to be allowed to walk around fully armed. The NRA would like to see a return to the wild west where men and women walked around carrying weapons but rather than colt 45s and single barrel rifles they want clones of Kyle Rittenhouse (their hero) carrying AR15s to the shopping malls.

The fact that Americans actually profit off the bloodshed and misery caused by guns gives me an idea of who they really worship...