Almost five years to the day the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting back in 2018 were to be remembered, three Michigan State University students were killed and five additionally were injured in a shooting at night on Monday, February 13th.
The shooter, identified as 43 year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae, who had no known ties to Michigan State, opened fire on two different spots on campus, including in the middle of a class. McRae was later found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Additionally, a note was found inside the pocket of McRae “that indicated a threat to two Ewing Public Schools” in New Jersey, but they had no longer faced a threat after McRae was found dead.
Michigan State University police identified the three victims of the shooting as junior Arielle Anderson, sophomore Brian Fraser and junior Alexandria Verner. There are currently five victims who were hospitalized and have since remained in critical condition.
As it was identified that the shooter, Anthony Dwayne McRae, had no ties to Michigan State, police and investigators are still trying to figure out what prompted the shooting. McRae does have a previous criminal history, as he was arrested back in 2019 and was charged with a felony for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
“The FBI and their colleagues are going through the history of this person to try to understand what his motivations were, to try to understand what brought him to this moment in this community at this time,” CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe said.
The shooting was marked as the 67th mass shooting to occur this year according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. Of the 67 mass shootings, 12 have occurred in schools and the shooting at Michigan State marks the first at a college or university this year.
Since the shooting, which occurred almost two weeks ago, classes, athletics and campus-related activities have since begun again after being postponed for a week. Michigan State University has also asked the Michigan state legislature for money for better security enhancements on campus. Upgrades to security on campus include classroom locks and fewer hours of open access to campus buildings, with an internal security assessment that is already underway, and an external review to be conducted later.