Michigan State University Shooting Leaves 3 Dead, 5 Injured

  • By Matt Jones
  • February 14, 2023

National news reports that a gunman killed three students and wounded five before taking his own life on Monday night on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. The shooting resulted in a full campus lockdown and a three-hour manhunt for the shooter, whom police confronted a few miles away from campus, according to AP News. The shooter has been identified as 43-year-old Anthony McRae, who police said is not a student or staff member of the university.

Local news station WWMT Grand Rapids/Lansing reports that the shooting took place in two locations. Two people were killed at Berkey Hall, an academic building, and one at the MSU Union. Five more victims were hospitalized, some with life-threatening injuries, said MSU Police and Public Safety interim deputy chief Chris Rozman. Rozman said that the first shots-fired call came in at 8:15 p.m. local time and that the Michigan State University Alert System distributed a text message at about 8:30 p.m.

“We have absolutely no idea what the motive was,” said Rozman. “This is still fluid. There are still crime scenes that are being processed, and we are still in the process of putting together the pieces to try to understand what happened.”

Police released a photo of the suspect captured by a security camera at about 11:30 p.m. Rozman said that an “alert citizen” recognized him in the Lansing area and called police. According to Rozman, police confronted the shooter in an industrial area about five miles away from campus, where he turned the gun on himself.

“Anything can happen in the blink of an eye, and I would have never thought that this is something that would happen to me,” said MSU freshman Georgia Gurzick via WWMT. “All of a sudden, it was at my university.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer released a statement after police confirmed that the shooter was dead. “Spartans will cry and hold each other a little closer,” she said in part. “We will mourn the loss of beautiful souls and pray for those fighting for their lives in the hospital.”

All campus activities including classes, athletics, extracurriculars have been cancelled for 48 hours, according to Michigan State University Police.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning and Campus Security and Life Safety. He can be reached at [email protected]

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