Authorities said the manhunt ended when McRae shot himself.
East Lansing, Michigan:
The gunman who killed three Michigan State University students and wounded five others before taking his own life had a history of mental illness and had a note in his pocket that pointed to two New Jersey students, police said Monday. There was a threat to the schools.
An apparent New Jersey connection to the suspect, 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae, was revealed as investigators sought clues that prompted him to open fire Monday night on the MSU campus in East Lansing, about 90 miles west of Detroit.
MSU police have said McRae, who lives in the state capital city of Lansing, Michigan, had no connection to the university or any of the victims.
“We don’t know why he came on campus to do this,” MSU Police Interim Deputy Chief Chris Roseman told reporters early Tuesday, hours after the shootings at an academic hall and the nearby student union building. A neighbor of McRae’s described him to Reuters as a “real hell-raiser” who often fired his gun at the house.
The shooting began around 8:30 local time, and the entire complex and surrounding areas were placed under security lockdown while police conducted a house-to-house search for the gunman. Authorities said the manhunt ended about three hours later in Lansing, where McRae shot himself.
It was unclear whether the suspect was already dead when officers apprehended him, acting on a tip from the public after MSU police released two still images of the suspect from surveillance video.
Images showed him walking into a building, then climbing stairs wearing a jacket, a baseball cap and a black mask over his lower face. He appeared to be holding a pistol in one hand, but officials have not disclosed what type of weapon was used.
new jersey tie
In evidence unearthed Tuesday, authorities in Ewing, New Jersey, said police found a note in the gunman’s pocket that “signaled a threat” to two public schools in that Delaware River township.
“The investigation revealed that McRae had a history of mental health issues,” Ewing Township police said in a statement on Facebook. Caution.
An 85-year-old neighbor of McRae’s in Lansing, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described him to Reuters as “a real hell-raiser” who often fired his gun at the property where he lived with his father.
The neighbor said, “We used to hear gunshots all the time, and then it seemed like the police were always down for something.”
The suspect’s father, Michael McRae, told The Washington Post that his son was arrested in 2019 for carrying a loaded firearm without a concealed weapons permit and later lied about having a gun inside his home.
trauma relief
MSU canceled all classes and other activities for 48 hours as battered students and faculty mourned for the victims of America’s latest scourge of mass gun violence.
“I’ll never forget the screams of my classmates as they were screaming in pain for help,” hostess Claire Papoulias, who was sitting in her Cuban history class when the gunman stormed into the air, told NBC’s “Today” show. narrated in
Papoulias said she fell to the floor when she heard gunshots directly behind her head. “Somebody was yelling that there was a shooter and everybody had to get on the ground, and at that point I thought I was going to die. I was so scared,” she said.
Five injured students were listed in serious condition at EW Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, where four of them underwent surgery, Dr. Denny Martin, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said during the briefing as he regained his composure. Struggling to keep up.
US Representative Alyssa Slotkin said, “I am filled with rage that we have to hold another press conference to talk about our children being killed in our schools.” “If that’s not a wake-up call to do something, I don’t know what is.”
The shooting occurred about 30 miles south of Oxford, Michigan, where in 2021 a teenage gunman used a semi-automatic handgun bought by his father as a Christmas gift to kill four students at a local high school.
Monday’s shooting occurred a day before the five-year anniversary of the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 victims were killed.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said during the briefing, “Another place that was supposed to be about community and solidarity has been shattered by gunfire and bloodshed. We know this is a uniquely American problem.” ,
University police identified the dead students as Alexandria Werner, a junior from Clawson, Michigan; Brian Fraser, a sophomore from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and Ariel Anderson, also a junior from Grosse Pointe.
Werner was a 2020 graduate of Clausen High School near Detroit, local ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV reported, citing a letter from the district’s superintendent.
“She was a tremendous student, athlete, leader and of exemplary kindness every day of her life!” WXYZ-TV reported that Superintendent Billy Shellenberger wrote to the families. “If you knew him, you loved him.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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