Michigan State shooting – updates: Murdered victims named as chilling details around Anthony McRae revealed
Police say suspect was in contact with law enforcement before dying by suicide as victims Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner are named
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The 43-year-old man accused of killing three and wounding five in a shooting at Michigan State University before turning the gun on himself was found with a note detailing threats to two other schools, authorities say.
Police identified the gunman in Monday’s shooting as Anthony McRae. He is not believed to have any connection to MSU.
On Tuesday morning, reports claimed that a note was found with McRae’s body after he killed himself. The note allegedly indicated threats to two New Jersey schools.
Meanwhile, it emerged that McRae had been living with his father, had firearms convictions and was known for firing weapons on the property, according to neighbours.
The names of two of the three students who were killed have been released.
Brian Fraser was a sophomore at the school from Grosse Pointe, east of Detroit, and Alexandra Verner was a junior from Clawson, north of the city.
The name of the third victim will not be shared at the request of the family.
Time ‘to think, grieve and be together’
Interim Michigan State University president Teresa Woodruff said the school would move to emergency operations for next 48 hours, adding that this is time intended for students, staff and faculty “to think, grieve and be together” after a “day of shock and heartbreak.”
“We are devastated at the loss of life,” Ms Woodruff said. “Our campus grieves, we will all grieve. We will change over time. We cannot allow this to continue to happen again.”
Resources for coping will be accessible starting at 9am on Tuesday at East Lansing Hannah Community Center at 819 Abbot Road, reported Lansing State Journal.
‘Shootings took place at buildings that are publicly accessible’
The two buildings of Michigan State University (MSU) where the shooting took place yesterday night were accessible to the general public, said the police in their press briefing.
According to the police briefing at least two victims were killed at Berkey Hall and one at the MSU Union building not far away on campus.
MSU Vice President for Public Safety and Chief of Police Marlon Lynch said responding to the shooting was a “monumental task” because of the size of the campus.
“That’s part of the monumental task. We do have areas that are accessible to the public,” he was quoted as saying by CNN.
“The task in itself is that we have 400 buildings on campus and over 5,300 acres and part of the process in the response that we had is that we were able to divide and organise, to be methodical in the search process and obtain evidence and share as it comes through. But with a university our size and the areas that we are responsible for, that becomes a task.”
Fear gripped students on campus at the time of shooting
Ryan Kunkel, 22, was attending a class in the Engineering Building when he became aware of the shooting from a university email.
Kunkel and about 13 other students turned off the lights and acted like there “was a shooter right outside the door,” he said.
“Nothing came out of anyone’s mouth” for over four hours, he said.“I wasn’t ready to accept that this is really going on next door, like right next to me. It’s on my campus,” Kunkel said.
“This is supposed to be a place where I’m coming, learning and bettering myself. And instead, students are getting hurt.”
In video: Three killed, suspect confirmed dead in Michigan State University shooting
'Go, go, go'
Local television news footage taken during the door-to-door search showed students filing past heavily armed police outside campus buildings in the cold night air, their arms raised above their heads in an “active shooter” evacuation ritual that has become commonplace on US school campuses.
Alexis Dinkins, an MSU sophomore who was inside Akers Hall, a dormitory on campus, told the Detroit News she heard people barricading doors and shouting, “Go, go, go” as the incident unfolded.
As she and other fled the dorm, they encountered police who told them to go to a nearby bus stop.
“We don’t feel safe anywhere,” the Detroit News quoted her as saying as she stood with a group of students on a campus sidewalk after leaving Akers. She described the situation as “terrifying”.
MSU students allowed to go home, as authorities lift campus lockdown
A gunman opened fire Monday night at Michigan State University, killing three people and wounding five more, before fatally shooting himself miles away after an hours-long manhunt that forced frightened students to hide in the dark.
Students were released from a night of lockdown after the gunman allegedly died of a self-inflicted wound. Campus activities, however, will remain suspended for the next 48 hours.
Aidan Baldwin, a 19-year-old freshman from Waterford who was sitting in a pickup truck with his aunt and uncle, told the Wall Street Journal that he spent most of night locked in a bathroom with a roommate, calling friends to check on them, monitoring news and letting parents know he was safe.
“For the first half hour it was OK, but after it got to be two or three hours, it got pretty nerve-racking. It felt more real,” he said. Responding to the reports of the gunman’s death, Baldwin said: “It’s gonna sound bad but I felt kind of relieved, just that we could move around.”
Police seeking additional information
Police are seeking witness accounts to help them put together the sequence of events and investigate Monday night’s mass shooting.
It has asked those with any information to call 844-99-MSUPD or email tips@police.msu.edu.
The FBI, also involved in the case, said informants can reach the agency at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Gunman dead after shooting eight across two campus locations
At least three people are dead and five wounded in a shooting at Michigan State University (MSU), police say.
A lone gunman is believed to have been responsible for the shootings across two campus locations, including a residential halls and the student union building.
Police told a news briefing shortly after midnight that the suspect had shot himself dead after leaving campus.
My colleague Io Dodds reports:
Gunman dead after shooting eight on Michigan State University campus
Police earlier ordered students to ‘run, hide, fight’ as campus locked down
WATCH: Students flee as shooting erupts on MSU campus
What we know about the shooter
The suspect believed to have shot eight people at Michigan State University has been found dead, police said in a midnight briefing. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after “contact” with police off campus, said the authorities.
“The suspect in the incident was located outside the MSU campus,” said Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the campus police department. “And that suspect has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The authorities did not disclose the name of the suspect, and said that it is too early to know the motive of the shooter.
While the shooting incident was still active police released images of the suspect and described him as a “Black male, shorter in stature” wearing red shoes, a jeans jacket and a baseball cap.
Campus police said they were investigating if he had some type of affiliation with the university.
“There’s a lot that we don’t know at this point,” Mr Rozman said. The suspect “was contacted by law enforcement off campus” at some point, he said, adding, “that scene is being investigated as a crime scene.”
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