Anthony Dwayne McRae, Lansing, Michigan man identified as MSU gunman who shot dead 3 then self as cops say man was not connected to university. No known motive. Previous gun arrest. Deeply religious- with Facebook page (below) showing iconic images and proverbs.
‘I thought I was going to die!’ The suspect in a shooting at Michigan State University that killed three people and wounded five others was identified by police as 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae.
Police said McRae died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Monday night after opening gunfire at two campus sites and terrorizing his victims. Cops said he shot himself miles away from campus while being confronted by police.
Around 11:30 p.m., MSU police during a press conference confirmed three people had been killed in addition to five victims who were transferred to Sparrow Hospital. They remain in critical condition according to police.
Cops reiterated the gunman having no apparent connection to the university or a clear motive for the ‘heinous’ attack.
The killer was found with a weapon, police said, without detailing what it was.
Why did a ‘God fearing, warehouse worker’ target college students? MSU shooting victims identified
Previous 2019 loaded firearm gun arrest
Anthony McRae was finally tracked down after a local resident called a tip line during the more than three hours he was hunted after shooting up two locations at the school, officials said.
Records show he was arrested in June 2019 with a suspected loaded firearm in his car. At the time, McRae served about 18 months of probation between 2019 and 2021
His late mother, Linda Gail McRae, was originally from Trenton, New Jersey, and “enjoyed worshipping and talking about the Lord, working in the church” and “caring for others,” an obituary shows.
She died on Sept. 13, 2020, in Sparrow Hospital — the same Lansing hospital treating the five injured by her crazed son.
Trauma surgeon Denny Martin broke down at Tuesday’s press conference as he detailed treating the five injured, all of whom remain in critical condition Tuesday.
All five were students, as were the three killed, officials said, without identifying any.
Shots were fired in two locations on the sprawling East Lansing campus, about 90 miles northwest of Detroit.
Three people were killed and five others were seriously wounded in a shooting at MSU.
Sophomore Claire Papoulias was sitting in class when she said she started hearing gunshots directly behind her head. @shaqbrewster reports. https://t.co/g4rNmp1PBT pic.twitter.com/NyPCllFPZe
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 14, 2023
‘I thought I was gonna die’
McRae first started shooting inside an academic building called Berkey Hall, where two of the dead were found.
MSU Police Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman said ‘there was an absolutely overwhelming police response’ with ‘officers in that building within minutes.’
As they treated the injured, officers started getting calls of shots fired at the nearby MSU Union building, which houses a student dining hall, where a third fatality was found.
One survivor told the Today show early Tuesday that the gunman had been silent when he burst through the back door of her classroom and started shooting at the 20 or so students inside.
Claire Papoulias recalled hearing ‘three or four gunshots directly behind’ her head, immediately dropping to the floor as someone yelled that there was a shooter.
‘At that moment, I thought I was gonna die. I was so scared,’ she told NBC, praising other students for heroically racing to smash open windows to help them flee.
No known motive in latest mass shooting
Videos posted online showed swarms of terrified students running across the campus as officers tried to take command of the chaotic scene.
Helicopters were seen overhead as the urgent search for the gunman continued during the lockdown, with FBI teams spreading out across the 5,200-acre campus. Students speaking to WXYZ told of being disorientated and not knowing where to run or where to flee as the crime scene involved a number of student halls.
Following the first report of shots fired, students and staff at the school were ordered to ‘secure in place,’ authorities said.
University police on Monday night sent out an alert warning the campus community to ‘Run, Hide, Fight.’
On an archived version of his now-deleted Facebook profile, McRae’s cover photo was a Bible verse: Luke 10:19.
It reads, ‘I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.’
The archived version says that McRae was from Trenton, New Jersey, and lived in Lansing. Screenshots (see above) show him holding a cross.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer described yet the latest mass shooting in the US ‘a weekly American problem.’
‘We are all broken by an all too familiar feeling,’ she said, adding: ‘We cannot keep going on like this.’
