EAST LANSING, Mich. — The tragedy at Michigan State University is causing grief across the country Wednesday morning, including in the Chicago area, which has many students who attend the East Lansing college.
More has also been learned about the three young people killed – Brian Fraser, Alexandria Verner and Arielle Anderson.
Vigils are being held across the country, from East Lansing, to the victims’ hometowns, to north suburban Highland Park, which had its own mass shooting during a Fourth of July parade last year.
There will be a vigil on MSU’s campus Wednesday.
“I always thought that it could happen anywhere; I never thought it would happen here,” one student said.
Classes are canceled, and Michigan State University is operating with only essential employees on campus while the investigation into the shooting continues.
RELATED | What we know about the Michigan State mass shooting victims
School officials said they plan to offer counseling to students, faculty and staff to allow for everyone to process what happened.
A vigil on the campus of MSU Tuesday night honored the victims of another rampage.
The three students killed were sophomore Brian Fraser, president of his fraternity; junior Alexandria Verner, a popular athlete known for her kindness; and Arielle Diamond Anderson, a junior who wanted to become a surgeon.
“We start calling and texting, and no responses were coming. So we were just hoping that maybe she was hiding somewhere. We want the senseless killing to stop,” Anderson’s aunt Kimella Spivey said.
RELATED | Anthony McRae, suspected Michigan State University shooter, viewed himself as a ‘loner,’ FBI says
This booking photo provided by Michigan Department of Corrections shows Anthony McRae.
Michigan Department of Corrections via AP
There’s also a clearer picture emerging of the suspect, who police said took his own life.
Authorities said 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours after opening fire in two buildings on campus.
Detectives said a note found on McRae listed other locations he wanted to attack in Michigan, Colorado and New Jersey.
RELATED | Some MSU students critical of text message from school during shooting
Investigators are still working to determine a motive, and said McRae had no connection to the victims or the university. He did have a history of mental illness and was described as a loner.
Records show he also served 18 months in prison for a weapons charge, beginning in 2019.
RELATED | Michigan State University students recount deadly on-campus shooting: ‘I was ducking and covering’
Michigan State student Jackie Matthews is from Newtown, Connecticut. She was in sixth grade when a gunman killed 20 students and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.
After the shots rang out Monday night, she said she was once again a witness to carnage.
“The fact that the odds of me being in both of those places for two mass shootings is unfortunately not as unlikely as it is, for other people as well. Enough is enough. It just needs to end,” Matthews said.
“Good Morning America” spoke with Matt Riddle, whose daughter, Emma, not only survived the MSU mass shooting, but, just 14 months ago, was nearly a victim in another mass shooting at a high school in Oxford, Michigan, that left four dead and injured seven.
“Having been through it in Oxford, it helped her understand what she needs to do in these situations. And, I don’t like that she has those tools. I wish she didn’t, but she does,” Riddle said.
Classes at MSU will resume Monday.
A vigil is planned at “The Rock” on campus Wednesday night to honor the victims.
Five students remain hospitalized in critical condition. During a news conference Wednesday, officials said a number of the students injured are international students.
Those who left items in the buildings where the shootings took place can access them Wednesday, FBI officials said.
Some Michigan State students channeled grief into protest Wednesday, gathering at the capitol in Lansing to urge gun reform.
Hundreds braved cold and windy weather as they sat on the building’s majestic steps, listening to sympathetic and angry speeches calling for legislative action to curb the violence they have been exposed to.
They were joined by more from the Spartan community as they moved to the path leading to the entrance and conducted a “sit in” there.
Student leaders then addressed the protest with more tearful pleas for change and accounts of the trauma they’ve experienced.
ABC News contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2023 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
