Sandy MaloneEast Lansing, MI – The gunman who fatally murdered three students and critically wounded five more on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU) late on Monday night has been identified as a convicted felon who most recently served time in a state prison on firearms charges.
MSU Police Deputy Chief Chris Rozman said the incident began at about 8:18 p.m. on Feb. 13 when the first gunshots were fired inside Berkeley Hall on the north end of campus near Grand River and Farm Lane, The Detroit News reported.
He told reporters that the first officers who responded to the report of shots fired at Berkey Hall quickly found multiple victims at the scene.
The deputy chief said another shooting was reported inside the MSU student union immediately after the gunfire at Berkey Hall.
Officials said police were on the scene within minutes of gunfire erupting.
Witnesses said police swarmed that scene with weapons drawn but the gunman had already fled, The Detroit News reported.
“There are 3 confirmed fatalities. This is in addition to the 5 victims who have been transported to the hospital,” the university’s police department posted to social media early on Tuesday morning, according to the Lansing State Journal.
One Tuesday morning, police confirmed that all eight victims were students at Michigan State.
Updates in the Michigan State University shooting:
-3 deceased victims were all MSU students
-5 victims in critical condition are also MSU students
-Shooter identified as 43-year-old Anthony McRae pic.twitter.com/srEBa69cTu— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) February 14, 2023
Deputy Chief Rozman said surveillance cameras in a campus building captured video of the suspect, and pictures of the suspect were quickly circulated on social media.
“We believe there to be one suspect,” he explained at a briefing less than an hour before the gunman was found dead. “He was last seen leaving the MSU union on foot on the north side of that building.”
The preliminary description of the suspect was that of a short black man who was wearing a mask, red shoes, a jean jacket, and a ball cap.
Anthony McRae identified as MSU shooter. pic.twitter.com/y9kjThYdtz
— Ｎｅｒｄｙ 🅰🅳🅳🅸🅲🆃 (@Nerdy_Addict) February 14, 2023
A man matching the suspect’s description was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after midnight on Feb. 14, The Detroit News reported.
It took authorities nine hours to identify the gunman, who reportedly had more guns and ammunition in his bag when he was found, as 43-year-old career criminal Anthony McRae.
UPDATE: The person who committed these homicides is 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. pic.twitter.com/XhneXfGUKg
— MSU Police and Public Safety (@msupolice) February 14, 2023
Investigators have not yet identified what connection to Michigan State McRae may have had that led to the campus shootings.
The MSU mass shooter yesterday who killed three people and injured five others before killing himself is identified as 43-year-old convicted felon Anthony McRae. He committed the shootings, not with a rifle, but a pistol he was illegally possessing. This will disappear fast. pic.twitter.com/VWCOvI8yUb
— Steve Oatley (@steveoatley) February 14, 2023
Police said McRae has an extensive criminal history with firearms, The Detroit News reported.
In November of 2019, the future mass shooter was sentenced to 18 months in state prison after being convicted of possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle.
The Michigan Department of Corrections (DOC) confirmed that McRae was released from supervision in May 2021, according to The Detroit News.
Authorities said the gunman lived with his father in a 960-square-foot home on the north side of Lansing, east of Capital Region International Airport.
Neighbors told The Detroit News that McRae’s father, Mike McRae, is a scrapper well-known in the neighborhood.
Court records showed that McRae has also lived in Bear, Delaware, the same hometown as the convicted ringleader of the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, The Detroit News reported.
Authorities have yet released the names of McRae’s victims, citing notifications that are still being made to family members.
The mass shooting on the state university’s campus is an ongoing investigation, The Detroit News reported.
Holly Matkin
