Active Shooter Event at Michigan State University [FINAL UPDATE—08:50 AM]
[NB: check the byline. Updates to appear at the bottom of this post. /~Rayne]
12:28 A.M. ET —
Suspect has been found off campus; they are confirmed dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
MSU Police spokesperson Chris Rozman confirmed there were three fatalities and five injured.
Active Shooter status has now ended.
More information and updates will appear at the bottom of this post. Content posted earlier will remain in place.
~ ~ ~
11:33 p.m. ET — Michigan State University still has an active shooter situation.
Students should continue to monitor the MSU Emergency page for updates:
Local news station reported MSU issued another bulletin at 10:05 p.m. ET advising students should run, hide, fight — run away if possible, hide if possible, fight as a last resort as necessary.
The events appeared to begin at Berkey Hall on the northeast side of campus, move to the Student Union toward the northwest, and then to IM East on the southeast side of campus.
Campus police as well as Lansing city, Ingham County police departments are on site along with Michigan State Police and surrounding counties.
Campus has been shut down; persons moving around on campus are subject to search. A SWAT team has arrived and is currently clearing Berkey Hall.
There have been multiple injuries and one reported death. Ambulances are on hand; victims are being taken to Sparrow Hospital.
In other words, this is students’ and parents’ nightmare in progress.
~ ~ ~
10:31 p.m. ET —
Local live coverage at:
WILX-TV NBC affiliate
https://www.wilx.com/2023/02/14/shelter-place-shots-fired-michigan-state-university/
WLNS-TV CBS affiliate
https://www.wlns.com/news/local-news/shots-fired-at-msu-students-instructed-to-hide-run-hide-fight/
Lansing State Journal – USA Today network member
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/
City Pulse – does not yet have live reporting but will likely have reports in the morning.
https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/
The State News – MSU student newspaper
https://statenews.com/article/2023/02/students-staff-describe-experiences-on-campus-with-shooting
Michigan State Police just told WLNS-TV they are not confirming any deaths.
A news briefing is expected at 11:00 p.m. ET.
~ ~ ~
10:47 p.m. ET —
From WNYC’s On The Media, here is a handy consumer media guide for use in Active Shooter events and other breaking news situations:
See their The Breaking News Consumer’s Handbook: Active Shooter Edition for more.
~ ~ ~
11:02 p.m. ET —
MSU Police spokesperson Chris Rozman addressed media, public.
Incident began at Berkey Hall at 8:18 p.m.
Several victims at Berkey Hall found by police responding minutes after the initial call.
Another shooting followed at Michigan State Union building.
Five victims so far, several with life-threatening injuries.
Suspect left MSU Union building on foot; believed to be a short Black male wearing red shoes, jean jacket, ball cap.
Police are checking security camera video at this time; the shooter has not yet been found.
Parents have been asked not to come to campus.
Police spokesperson asks interested persons to follow their Twitter account.
There have been false reports of additional shooters/shootings.
Next update will be at 12:00 a.m.
~ ~ ~
11:15 p.m. ET —
MSU Police did not confirm this during the presser, but MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant has informed WILX-TV there was one death.
WILX-TV now says they’re not providing any more details not shared by police.
~ ~ ~
11:25 p.m. ET —
Still images from security cameras believed to be of the suspect have been released to the media and on Twitter:
Grand River Avenue along the north edge of MSU campus has been shut down. It is normally very busy due to the number of retail and food businesses located on Grand River which serve campus.
~ ~ ~
11:40 p.m. ET —
A WILX reporter confirmed there are three dead in addition to five hospitalized at Sparrow Hospital at this time.
~ ~ ~
12:03 a.m. ET — 14-FEB-2023 —
MSU Police have pushed back the next update to 12:20 a.m. ET. No additional information has yet been received.
~ ~ ~
12:28 a.m. ET —
MSU PD spokesperson Rozman provided a phone number and an email address for any tips related to the shooter.
Call: (844) 99M-SUPD or email: [email protected]
Please note the shootings appeared to have been confined to two locations on campus — Berkey Hall and the MSU Union.
A WILX reporter is at another off-campus location near the Larch and Lake Lansing Road intersection where police have cordoned off the road where they are working. This intersection is about three miles to the west of campus. This scene may be related to the shooter’s demise.
MSU Police have planned another update at 1:30 a.m.
~ ~ ~
8:50 a.m. —
The shooting suspect has been identified as 43-year-old Anthony McRae (spelling subject to confirmation). He was unaffiliated with MSU. A tip was called in by someone who knew him immediately after they recognized him from the still images from the security camera shared by police last evening.
All of the shooting victims both deceased and currently hospitalized are students at MSU.
There is no known motive at this time.
The victims will be identified later today after next of kin have been notified.
All classes are canceled until next Monday at MSU though the campus may be open. Counseling services will be available to students.
Pezzola
I feel just sick, I could barf.
ADDER: Shout out to the students and staff at MSU’s student news outlet, The State News. It’s got to be really tough to stay on top of reporting when your campus is at risk of an active shooter. Great job, such cool under pressure.
https://statenews.com/article/2023/02/shots-fired-near-berkey-hall
Also, MLive and Detroit Free Press have excellent on-scene reporting. Made me sick too.
I wonder why police and local officials are declaring that Mr. McRae had no connection to MSU. Isn’t it too early to assert that?
I join you. I am a Michigan State grad and had classes at Berkey Hall. This is absolutely horrifying. We are destroying ourselves because of the need of some of our fellow citizens to keep becoming more and more extreme in their gun worship and willingness to sacrifice other people in its service.
My youngest graduated recently from MSU, had worked the cafeterias on campus to help put themselves through school.
They’re dealing with anxiety right now. I don’t want to repeat what they shared by text but I can understand why they’re so rattled.
Of course they’re rattled. I just hope no one else gets hurt.
I am more upset than I realize. My feelings are so messed up. Last year I was a very proud papa to have one twin son at UofM and the other at MSU (my alma matter). This year they are both at UofM since someone got accepted as a transfer student because he had perfect grades. Enough is enough. I fear the rwnj backlash when the current MI gov passes gun laws on par with Florida 5 years ago. RepSlotkin, GovGretch, et al LFG!
#SpartansWill
Yeah, I feel your upset, same here. I feel awful for the freshman student and parent from Oxford who was on campus during the shooting; this is just too much for us to ask teens and young adults to endure as a cost of education.
Rayne, I am so sorry. I know it is just terrible to be in the throes of all of this, especially with the proximity to you and loved ones, neighbors, and community. Sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims.
I couldn’t help think of all the parents and family members who lived in terror last night wondering if they would get that call. I know that’s what bothered my youngest who couldn’t sleep last night, wondering if any of their friends and classmates still at MSU were caught up in the terror.
MSU families have already had to deal with crap several times over this last few years, like the lockdown back in March 2020, all the media attention about Larry Nasser’s abuse of athletes, several unfortunate incidents like a student who went missing (fell into the Grand River). And now this, in a state where we hope to see more female students because they don’t feel safe in red states with stringent anti-reproductive rights laws. ~sigh~
I’m so sorry, Rayne regarding your youngest. This is so terribly distressing. I think ‘resources, resources, resources’ always with regard to traumatic and moral injury. Nature, music, good food, hugs, loved ones, pets, walking, meditation etc etc etc.
I read your post and this message last night and couldn’t bear to write. As a professor I came into too close for comfort contact w/ armed, angry students, one with the intent to ‘better’ the Virgnina Tech incident. And had direct contact w/ a felonious student who created a false narrative about me, resulting in my having plainclothes (but oh so obvious) in my class with me. All of which motivated me to be intensely involved for the final years of teaching in safety & behavioral intervention committees and to take extensive training in Crisis Intervention, etc. I needed to be ‘in the know’ about what might be coming down on campus, but it was not the way I ever intended to spend my last decade teaching. My discipline was all about building relationship, the beloved community, equity and social justice etc. But I spent those years in somewhat modulated hypervigilance. Sadly I never entered a classroom again without activating all of my training (exits, etc).
I have no words for where we are as a culture or society. I wish all the guns and anger and misinformation was gone, but I know that is lame and ineffective.
My sincerest hopes for you and yours to have as many resources (inner & outer) available as you need. And the same for the families and friends who are harmed by this violence.
Thank you -mamake-. My mother was an educator too, and I am glad she was gone before all this guns in schools nonsense.
Oh my…I am so sorry to hear you had that experience after the V-Tech shooting. Horrible. I wish we had an answer to this but a good portion of this ongoing crisis is the parents and what they are teaching their children about gun rights. Your right to live and teach in safety is every bit as compelling as a student’s gun rights; so, too, are the rights of all the other instructors and students to be secure in their persons.
My youngest called this afternoon after work and confirmed what I’d suspected after looking at security cameral photos. The shooter walked right next to their fraternity, over that lawn, after shooting up the Union building. The perp also used a service corridor, not a main hallway. How did they know to do that?
And one of the dead was the president of a friend’s fraternity. This bullshit is just too close, too personal, as you well know.
OMG, that must be so activating for your youngest and for you. Too damn close and too personal is right – I’m so sorry.
And at the risk of redundancy, whatever activities, thought patterns, and/or behaviors you and yours can do, just keep up with it. I know efforts can fluctuate, but taking oneself outdoors, or with others to be active with one’s body in ways that feel safe, and eventually rewarding, is essential to managing the shock, the shutdown, the numbing and even the self-medicating. The hardest part for me was that we had no cameras so those of us who experienced events most directly were sometimes (often?) not believed. Isolation exacerbates trauma.
There are so many stories from colleagues who spotted students of concern and reported their observations to administration who did nada. It was horrifying and was the root of a great divide between faculty and admin. Even though several of us worked to implement and maintain teams to facilitate safety, there was/is so much denial for those not on the front lines (with students), it was hard to penetrate.
Never have written about this publicly and am feeling a bit on the edge. Need to stop as even now I fear repercusions from one perp. Sorry.
ESPN is reporting a 48-hour campus closure. That’s a good move, but what gets me is how random these appear to be for the locations.
Not all of them (but many of them) are in areas where ‘2A rights’ supersede all others, but I don’t know enough about East Lansing to say if that is one of them. However, we did have the pre-J6 storming of the MI Capitol so maybe the so-called militias are busy in the area.
The other part that makes it ridiculous and completely tragic is how useless this action by the shooter is. What is his point he wants to make? It’s a question I ask every time and still don’t see any answer worth it.
I wouldn’t speculate at all on the shooter and their motives, period. You just said you don’t know enough about East Lansing — let that be your guide to just stop, listen, learn.
And it’s the guns. Mass shootings happen where there are guns.
ADDER: The shootings do not appear random. The question right now is whether there was any shooting at IM East or if this was a false report.
latest:
https://www.wilx.com/2023/02/14/shelter-place-shots-fired-michigan-state-university/
Suspect found dead, self-inflicted gunshot wound.
I don’t even know what to say anymore.
Sending every good vibe I can to you and your family, Rayne,
and to the greater community of those affected.
It is SUCH BULLSHIT that we continue to have to experience this.
Rayne, thank you so much for reporting on this, and all those who comment. Rayne, you are really courageous for posting. I can’t imagine the extra intensive heartache from being so close and knowing MSU so well.