SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Just before 8:30 pm yesterday, a man went to Michigan State University in East Lansing with a gun. He was there to do harm to people.
We don’t know the reasons why he killed three people and wounded at least five others who are in critical condition. But we do know that Anthony McRae, the alleged shooter who took his own life, had been on probation for 18 months until May 2021 for possessing a loaded gun in a vehicle.
Michigan State University has 50,000 students at the campus and is one of the largest universities in the United States. The campus covers 5,200 acres. About 19,000 students live on campus.
Deputy chief of campus police, Chris Rozman, told reporters, “We have absolutely no idea what the motive was.” Rozman then told reporters that McRae was neither a student or an employee of the university.
After murdering the innocent students at Michigan State, McRae, fled the scene. After police released a picture of McRae, they were able to locate the suspect approximately five miles from campus in an industrial area. Police confronted the suspect at which time, he took his own life.
Today marks the 45th day of 2023. To date, the Gun Violence Archive reports 67 mass shootings in the United States.
Photos courtesy of Nick King Lansing State Journal via AP, some informational content via AP, Reuters, The New York Times, and Google.