What We Know About the Michigan State University Shooting

A 43-year-old man shot and killed three students on the campus of Michigan State University late on Monday night before dying by suicide.

Five other students were injured in the shooting and all remain in a critical condition at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, according to the hospital’s chief medical officer. During an emotional press conference on Tuesday morning, Sparrow Hospital's Chief Medical Officer Denny Martin said that all of the injured students were still alive and that four of the victims needed surgical intervention.

All the deceased and the injured were students at MSU, police confirmed Tuesday morning.

The first shots were reported at 8:18 pm on Monday night from Berkey Hall, an academic building on the northern end of campus. Police officers responded within minutes and found multiple victims at that location, including two people who later died from gunshot wounds.

A shelter-in-place order was declared while an hours-long manhunt that involved hundreds of officers from multiple agencies searched for the shooter.

Soon after the police arrived on the scene, more shots were fired nearby at the Michigan State University Union Building, according to the MSU Police Department’s Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman, who spoke to the media on Tuesday morning.

After the police issued a CCTV image of the shooter on Monday night, they received a tip from a member of the community who identified the shooter. Rozman said the police were able to locate the suspect, Anthony McRae from Lansing, Michigan, at 11:35 pm in Lansing. They confirmed he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Police said they had no idea what motivated the attack.

“We have absolutely no idea what the motive was at this point,” Rozman said. “We can confirm that the 43-year-old suspect had no affiliation with the university. He was not a student, faculty or staff.”

The suspect’s social media accounts have been deleted, but VICE News reviewed the contents of the suspect’s now-deleted Facebook page and found an account filled with apocalyptic Christian imagery, memes, and photos of the shooter himself holding a crucifix. 

The police would not comment on the firearm used in the shooting.

“As a representative of Oxford, Michigan, I cannot believe that I'm here again doing this 15 months later,” Rep. Elissa Shotkin told a press conference on Tuesday morning, referencing last year’s school shooting at Oxford High School when a 15-year-old shot and killed four students and injured seven more. “I am filled with rage that we have to have another press conference to talk about our children being killed in their schools.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also spoke at the press conference, calling the epidemic of mass shootings “a uniquely American problem” and highlighted that today marks the fifth anniversary of the Parkland shooting in Florida where 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

“Looking back at a year marked by shootings at grocery stores, parades, and so many other ordinary, everyday situations, we cannot keep living like this,” Whitmer said.