5 Things to Know About the Michigan State University Shooting

Late Monday, a gunman opened fire on the campus of Michigan State University. The 43-year-old shooter killed three students and

Michigan State University shooting

Late Monday, a gunman opened fire on the campus of Michigan State University.

The 43-year-old shooter killed three students and critically injured an additional five. Those five are still fighting for their lives as of Tuesday morning.

2023 has marked 67 mass shootings (definied as “three or more people shot in one incident, excluding the shooter”) in a year that is only 45 days old – a breathtaking escalation from years past.

With questions and rumors still swirling in the sudden aftermath of the MSU shooting, here are five things to know.

See: COLORADO SPRINGS SHOOTING IS THE MOST RECENT TRAGEDY TO SPRING FROM HATEFUL POLITICS

1. How Many People Were Killed and Injured at Michigan State University

According to police, just before 8:30PM on Monday night, they received their first call from Berkey Hall.

Initial calls reported “shots fired” in that building, and police say they launched an “absolutely overwhelming” police response to the call. Officers were on site within minutes.

Officers encountered several injured students in Berkey Hall, along with two deceased students.

While officers responded to that scene, police receiving additional reports of another shooting at the MSU Student Union building.

Officers redeployed to the new location, where they found one additional deceased victim.

Police have confirmed that three people were killed, and five people were transported to the hospital in critical condition. They remain in critical condition early Tuesday.

All 8 casualties were students at the university. Officials will release names of the victims later Tuesday, once they have communicated adequately with families.

2. Who the MSU Shooter is and What His Motive Is

The suspect was located at 11:35PM in the city of Lansing.

Units located him while engaging in a manhunt, and discovered him deceased due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police say that it was a public tip which led to the discovery of the shooter’s body.

The shooter is named Anthony McRae, a 43-year-old man with no known affiliation with the school.

Police are still unclear on what his motives were – he has no solid ties to the university and no clear trail of intent so far.

3. Reaction to the MSU Shooting

So far, the reaction to the Michigan State University shooting is exactly what you’d expect.

For supporters of the Second Amendment, it’s another opportunity to tout more access to guns and looser gun laws.

For those opposed to more guns, it’s an opportunity to point to America’s nearly exclusive supremacy on mass shootings in the civilized world.

Meanwhile, those on the ground and close to the victims are heartbroken and furious – wishing people would pay attention to their loved ones and the carnage and stop turning yet another incident into an opportunity for political posturing.

One such fed up person is Ranjeev Puri, the Democratic Majority Whip in the Michigan House of Representatives.

Puri released a statement early Tuesday which began with, “F–k your thoughts and prayers.” Puri added, “We do not need to live like this.”

Others echoed Puri’s sentiment, pushing back at the idea that this is the acceptable result of increased freedoms for America’s gun culture.

4. Students Who Survived a Shooting at Oxford High Lived the Nightmare Again at Michigan State University

Unfortunately, whether or not you believe it’s an acceptable exchange for nearly unfettered gun rights, it has become a part of America’s every day societal fabric.

One of the most haunting images of the night came as a group of students evacuated from near the shooting stood around talking to loved ones on cell phones and waiting for more information.

Pictured among those waiting is a young person wearing a sweatshirt that reads, “Oxford strong.”

The sweatshirt alludes to a November 2021 shooting in nearby Detroit, Michigan exurb at Oxford High School.

In that shooting, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley murdered four people and injured an additional seven people.

It would seem that survivors or loved ones of survivors made it through Oxford only to find themselves face to face with the unimaginable again at MSU.

It’s a haunting and grim reminder of just how common these shootings are becoming if you can count yourself a survival of multiple in just a few years.

5. What Comes After MSU

Just like after every school shooting, people want to know what comes next.

Do laws change? Does the country finally face itself in the mirror and realize that we are grappling with a unique situation that we created for ourselves?
At what point do we accept the constant deaths of people as part and parcel for freedoms to own guns?

Is there even anything that can be done, or are we too far down the rabbit hole to turn back now?

None of these questions have easy answers. Like so many shootings before it, MSU will soon pass into the haunting halls of memory – and from there, obscurity.

As these incidents increase, the names start to blend together and the faces and victims start to become a monolith of sacrifices made by a country unwilling and unable to change.

Whether MSU will be the catalyst for necessary change or just another in a long line of tragedies and heartbreaks remains to be seen – but until people are tired enough of the pain and suffering, certainly nothing can change.

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