Motive sought in Michigan State University shooting as community reels

With Monday night’s rampage at Michigan State University, the city of East Lansing has joined the list of American communities that have experienced the kind of trauma sickeningly familiar to a generation that’s come of age against a backdrop of school shootings.

The shooting at Michigan State occurred nearly five years to the day after a massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., left 17 people dead — an event that galvanized a wave of activism, led by the survivors, to enact tighter gun laws across the country as they vowed “never again.”

Yet the national debate over gun violence continues in America, with many calling on Congress to act even as they mourn lives lost in the latest tragedy.

University police on Tuesday identified the three students killed as Brian Fraser, a sophomore from Grosse Pointe, Mich.; Alexandria Verner, a junior from Clawson, Mich.; and Arielle Anderson, a junior from Grosse Pointe.

A man, wearing a dark suit, stands facing away and toward a photo in a black frame sitting on display in a church

Five other students remained hospitalized in critical condition.

The gunman in Monday’s attack had no known connection to the school and later killed himself.

Teresa K. Woodruff, interim president of Michigan State, said at a news conference Tuesday that the community was in mourning and offered peace and condolences to the victims’ families.

“Our Spartan hearts are broken,” Woodruff said. “We struggled to comprehend we lost families, friends, classmates, and our hearts go out to the victims and families of the senseless tragedy.”

The gunman was identified as Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, whom university police said died Monday night of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had no known connection to the school, and police had not yet established a motive Tuesday.

A caller’s tip led authorities to his location in Lansing, the state capital, after police released a photograph on social media, said Christopher Rozman, deputy chief of the Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety. The shooter was dead of “self-inflicted gunshot wounds,” Rozman said.

The gunman had no association with the university, Rozman said, adding that he was never a student, faculty or staff member.

“We have absolutely no idea what the motive was at this point,” Rozman said. “That’s an unknown right now.”

Michigan State, which is home to 50,000 students, is operating under a modified schedule and has suspended all activities and classes, the school said on its website.

At 8:17 p.m. Monday, university police received a call about shots fired in Berkey Hall, an academic building on the northern end of campus. Rozman said officers were on the scene within minutes and found several people injured.

Two of the students who died in the attack were in Berkey Hall, Rozman said.

As officers were in Berkey Hall, more calls came in about shots fired at the university’s student union building. Officers were sent there and found one additional victim who was among the dead, Rozman said.

Authorities believe the gunman exited Berkey and walked to the student union, about one block west, before quickly fleeing, Rozman said. “He was not in the building for that long,” he said.

Rozman declined to answer questions about the time between the two attacks, citing the ongoing investigation.

A vertical head-and-shoulders selfie of a young, smiling woman with shoulder-length hair, wearing Michigan State sweatshirt.

The shooting set off a four-hour manhunt as hundreds of law enforcement officers combed the campus and tens of thousands of students and community members sheltered in place.

Campus security cameras captured images of the suspected gunman around 11 p.m., Michigan State police said. At 11:18 p.m., the department released the photos on social media showing a man in red shoes, a jean jacket and a navy baseball cap with a lighter brim.

Rozman said an “alert citizen” called in the suspect’s location, which was dispatched to police units off campus assisting in the search. The call came in about 11:35 p.m., just 17 minutes after the release of the photos, university police said.

“We cannot thank the public, the community and the person who called in that report enough for being observant, for following our messaging and for being vigilant and contacting us immediately,” Rozman said.

One gun was recovered, but police are still investigating the weapon used in the attacks, Rozman said.

Police searched a home that was connected to the gunman, Rozman said, adding that he could not confirm its location.

In 2019, McRae was arrested and pleaded guilty to possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle, according to a court record from Ingham County, Mich. The gun was legally registered to him, but he did not have the required concealed carry permit, according to the Ingham County prosecutor.

A concealed weapons charge was dismissed as part of a plea agreement, and McRae was sentenced to 12 months’ probation, which he completed in May 2021, the record shows. Even if McRae had been convicted of the concealed weapons charge — a felony that carries a statutory maximum of five years — he would not have been recommended for a jail or prison sentence, the prosecutor’s office said.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Michael McRae, the shooter’s father, said his son lied about keeping a gun in their home in Lansing, Mich., after his 2019 arrest. Michael McRae told the Post he once confronted his son about gunshots he heard in their backyard, but his son insisted it was just fireworks despite the bullet casings on the ground.

A police booking image of Anthony McRae in 2019

“I told him to get rid of the gun,” Michael McRae, 66, told the Post. “He kept lying to me about it and told me he got rid of it.” His son never showed him the gun, which he purchased after his weapons charge, Michael McRae said.

Michael McRae said his son was having difficulty coping with his mother’s death in 2020 from a stroke. His son “was depressed and overly stressed out,” shutting himself in his room when he was home, he said. In his interview with the Post, he offered his condolences to the victims’ families.

Michael McRae did not immediately return requests for comment Tuesday.

In Ewing, N.J., a school district closed for the day Tuesday after police discovered that the gunman had ties to the community and made threats against some schools, the Ewing Police Department said in a statement.

When police in Michigan found the shooter, he had a note in his pocket “that indicated a threat to two Ewing public schools,” Ewing police said. The shooter, who had not lived in Ewing for several years, had a “history of mental health issues,” the department said.

Though an investigation revealed there was no active threat, Ewing schools remained closed Tuesday “out of an abundance of caution,” police said, with officers stationed at schools throughout the area.