On Monday, Feb. 13, a gunman opened fire in two buildings at Michigan State University, killing three individuals and injuring five others. 

At 8:30 p.m., 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae opened fire in Berkey Hall, killing two students. Later in the night, McRae opened fire again at the Student Union killing one person. 

McRae was found off-campus at 11:30 p.m. dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Though his intentions were unclear, McRae was found to have no direct connection to the school. 

All eight of the victims, the five wounded and three killed are all students at Michigan State. The wounded victims are in critical condition, but are being treated at Sparrow Hospital. 

“To Jane Nodland, a 22-year-old nursing student, it sounded like a stampede. ‘I thought I was going to die,’” Ms Nodland told the New York Times. “It sounded like he was right there.”

This tragic event left a huge impact on not only the victims, but the other current students who either had a connection to the victims or witnessed this tragedy. 

The students attending were notified of the incident by an email that was sent out shortly after the first shot was fired. They were told to stay in place alone and given a description of the suspect. 

In a telephone interview, the gunman’s father added that his son had been struggling with the death of his mother back in 2020 and has seen a change in his mood, but didn’t expect this as a result. 

On Wednesday night, the University of Michigan held a vigil at the Diag, where over 3,000 people showed up. Michigan and Michigan State are major sports rivals, but Michigan’s Women’s basketball wore Spartan Strong shirts at their game against Indiana. The Michigan hockey and baseball teams also added Spartan stickers to their helmets in solidarity for the incident.