The latest on the deadly Michigan State University shooting

MSU Board of Trustees chair Dr. Rema Vassar

One of the injured students from the Michigan State University shooting has been moved to stable condition, the university said Thursday. Four remain in critical condition. 

At the end of a news conference, MSU Board of Trustees chair Dr. Rema Vassar said Sparrow Hospital had called and “let us know that one of our students has moved from critical to stable condition.” 

Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzalez

Michigan State Police said the Michigan State University gunman “had contact with some of those places” listed in the note found on him. 

Lt. Rene Gonzalez said the note had a listing of businesses on it.

“Through our investigation, we found that he had had contact with some of those places,” Gonzalez said. “He was an employee of the Meijer warehouse at one time.”

“In a couple of other businesses, it appears that he’d had some issues with the employees there, where he was asked to leave. So, it looks like he possibly [had] a motive for that … he just felt slighted and that’s kind of what the note indicated,” he said.

Lansing Police Chief Ellery Sosebee

Lansing Police Chief Ellery Sosebee outlined previous law enforcement encounters with the Michigan State University shooter, including a previously reported firearm charge from 2019.

Sosebee said, contrary to “a few topics of misinformation,” his department had not responded to any welfare checks related to the gunman, Anthony Dwayne McRae, prior to the shooting. The chief said there was one welfare check on record at a Lansing address linked to the gunman, but it “was not related to the accused.”

Sosebee added that his department had never responded to reports of gunfire at that address.

The chief said his department’s call history related to McRae dates back to 2005, when he was “contacted for a larceny complaint,” though Sosebee shared no further details. The list also included three traffic violations from 2006 and 2007.

The next encounter the chief had on record was from 2019, when CNN has previously reported that McRae was arrested and charged for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, a felony. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for possession of a loaded firearm and spent a year and a half on probation.

A police officer approached McRae as he sat on the back steps of an abandoned building smoking a cigarette, according to police. The officer, who was patrolling the area after burglaries in the area, asked McRae if he had any weapons, and McRae said that he did.

The officer patted McRae down and confirmed that he had a loaded semi-automatic pistol in his pants pocket, as well as another magazine for the gun in his breast pocket.

McRae admitted that he did not have a concealed pistol license, and the officer arrested him. McRae told the officer he carried the gun for his safety and was trying to obtain a permit, according to police.

CNN’s Casey Tolan, Curt Devine and Scott Bronstein contributed to this report.

Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzalez

The Michigan State University gunman had two pages of notes in his wallet when he was found, according to Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzalez.

“Found on [Anthony] McRae were two handguns — the one he shot himself with and another in his backpack that he was carrying. He also had a loaded magazine that was full to capacity in his left breast pocket,” Gonzalez said during a news briefing Thursday.

He had eight loaded magazines and a pouch containing 50 rounds of loose ammunition as well, Gonzalez said.

Two pages of notes “indicated where he was going to visit and also kind of gave the indication of why he, maybe a motive, but nothing that we can actually confirm just yet,” Gonzalez said.

McRae also had bus tickets on him when he was found, Gonzalez said.

The investigation is ongoing, but officials believe McRae acted alone, he added.

Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzalez

Police and the shooter had contact at Lake Lansing and Larch Road in the city of Lansing, Michigan, after officers received a call that a subject matching the description was walking down the street, according to Lt. Rene Gonzalez of the Michigan State police.

The officers stood about 20 feet from gunman Anthony Dwayne McRae, he added.

As they exited the vehicle and ordered McRae to show his hands, he produced a weapon and killed himself, Gonzalez said Thursday.

McRae was, however, declared deceased on the scene, Gonzalez said.

The Michigan State University gunman had two 9-millimeter handguns and additional magazines and ammunition on him, according to MSU Police and Public Safety Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman.

The guns were purchased legally but not registered, he said.

“Our investigative team did work with our federal [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] partners to trace those weapons and we have learned that they were purchased legally by the shooter, but they were not registered,” Rozman said.  

A note was also found on the gunman who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Rozman said. The gunman was found about 3.8 miles from campus.

Michigan State University interim President Teresa Woodruff speaks at a press conference on Thursday.

Michigan State University interim President Teresa Woodruff said MSU is resuming standard operations today, but classes remain suspended through Sunday.

Berkey Hall, one of the locations where students died during shooting, will remain closed for the rest of the semester, she added.

Woodruff added that staff across the campus are meeting with impacted students, families and the remaining injured students who are hospitalized.

“We are listening and we are supporting at all levels,” she said.

Crime scene tape surrounds the Student Union building on the campus of Michigan State University on Tuesday.

Five Michigan State University students who were injured during the mass shooting that killed three on Monday are still in critical condition but some of them are showing signs of improvement, the university’s interim President Teresa Woodruff said in a briefing Thursday.

They are being treated at the E.W. Sparrow Hospital in Lansing.

Michigan State University Police and Public Safety department has made the decision to not release the names of the injured victims in the hospital “out of respect for the families,” said Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman.

MSU interim President Teresa Woodruff speaks at the press conference on Thursday.

Officials are now giving an update on the investigation into a deadly shooting at Michigan State University. Three students were killed and five others were injured when a gunman opened fire Monday.

The Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety is expected to be at the briefing.

Investigators are still looking for a motive. The gunman has been identified as a 43-year-old man who was not affiliated with the university. He was later found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Since then, a search warrant was executed at a home connected with the suspect, according to police. Officials also said they have recovered a weapon but have not determined whether it was the one used in the mass shooting, according to MSU Interim Deputy Police Chief Chris Rozman.

Current and former students from Michigan State University attend a rally outside of the state capitol building in Lansing, Michigan, on Wednesday.

As investigators probe why a gunman targeted Michigan State University and how he got the firearm used in the mass shooting, the campus community is mourning the students killed and still reeling from the hours of terror that unfolded earlier this week.

Gathered around a landmark MSU rock bearing the words “Always a Spartan,” thousands of students, faculty, staff and community members came together with flowers to honor the three students killed in Monday night’s mass shooting: Arielle Anderson, Alexandria Verner and Brian Fraser.

The MSU students died in what became the 67th mass shooting in the US in 2023 – less than two months into the year, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

We shouldn’t have to live like this,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told the crowd. “We shouldn’t have to subconsciously scan every room for an exit, go through the grim exercise of figuring out who our last call would be to.”

“Our campuses, churches, classrooms and communities should not be battlefields,” the governor told the grieving crowd that included students who had also lived through another mass shooting at a Michigan high school just 15 months ago.

At Wednesday’s vigil, MSU’s head men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo told the students to allow themselves to show their emotions as they process the tragedy.

“Whatever you’re feeling, it’s all valid,” said Izzo. “Emotions are different for each and every person.”

As the MSU Shadows song echoed through the campus Wednesday, students wrapped their arms around each other and swayed together.

The Monday evening attack at MSU left three students dead and five wounded across two different campus buildings and sent terrified students running, barricading in classrooms, or jumping out of windows as hundreds of officers converged on the university in search for the gunman, who later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

While parents plan their children’s funerals and others watch theirs fight for their lives at the hospital, investigators are searching for answers.

Keep reading here and see below the rising number of shootings across the years:

The two-page note found in the backpack of Michigan State University shooter Anthony Dwayne McRae has a list of targets that includes a warehouse, an employment agency, a discount store, a church, and a fast-food restaurant, according to law enforcement officials who have access to the note.

The note begins with an introduction: “Hi, my name is Anthony McRae,” according to the law enforcement officials, and then announces that he is the leader of a group of twenty killers. “I will be shooting up MSU” it says, according to officials.

McRae writes another team will “finish off the city of Lansing” followed by the list of targets, law enforcement officials said. 

While the note lists targets, it does not say why they are targets or list grievances but it gives the names and addresses, according to law enforcement officials.

Police are looking into what connection the shooter may have had to the locations, law enforcement officials said.

While investigators sort through these leads, FBI profilers from the Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico are looking at and analyzing the letter, according to the law enforcement officials. 

The Michigan State Police and FBI agents contacted each of the businesses listed on the letter to warn them that they had been named, but that the gunman was dead and there is no credibility in his claims of being the leader of any team, law enforcement officials said. 

Michigan State University Police are still searching for any connection between McRae, who never attended the university or worked there, but somehow identified the school or the people who went there as his enemy, according to law enforcement officials.

Mourners attend a vigil at The Rock at Michigan State University on Wednesday.

Friends and family are remembering the three Michigan State University students who were killed in a shooting Monday.

They have been identified as Arielle Anderson, a junior from Grosse Point, Michigan, Brian Fraser, a sophomore also from Grosse Pointe, and Alexandria Verner, a junior from Clawson, Michigan, according to the university’s police department.

Here are their stories:

Arielle Anderson

Her aunt Chandra Davis said her family is heartbroken and struggling to deal with Anderson’s passing.

Anderson’s family remembers her smile and just how hard she worked, the family told the university student paper, The State News.

“As an Angel here on Earth, Arielle was sweet and loving with an infectious smile that was very contagious. We are absolutely devastated by this heinous act of violence upon her and many other innocent victims,” her family said in a statement.

Alexandria Verner

Verner was kind, positive and “everything you’d want your daughter or friend to be,” a family friend said. She was a junior at the university studying biology, according to The State News.

“Her kindness was on display every single second you were around her,” Clawson Public Schools Superintendent Billy Shellenbarger told CNN. He is friends with the Verner family and has known Alexandria, or Alex, as he called her, since she was in kindergarten.

Verner was a fantastic three-sport athlete in volleyball, basketball and softball, as well as an excellent student who was active in many leadership groups at the school, Shellenbarger said.

Verner’s family is “being about as strong as a human being can be in the face of this tragedy,” he added.

Brian Fraser

Fraser served as the president of the Michigan Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta, the fraternity said in a statement. He was a leader and a great friend to his brothers, the Greek community and the people he interacted with on campus, the fraternity said.

Fraser was studying business at the university, the student paper said. He graduated in 2021 from Grosse Pointe South High School, according to district superintendent Jon Dean.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is calling for leaders to take action on guns to save lives, saying, “the time for only thoughts and prayers is over.”

In a video statement on Twitter, the governor said the shooting at Michigan State University’s campus on Monday was just the latest instance of students being killed by guns. She pointed to the shooting at Oxford High School that killed four people a little over a year ago.

“Too many places in our nation that are supposed to be about learning and community or joy have been shattered by bullets and stained by bloodshed,” Whitmer said. “We’re going to get this done for every Spartan who’s lucky enough to call campus home,” she added, without specifying any specific steps.

East Lansing Mayor Ron Bacon also called for legislative action, including making it harder for “dangerous individuals” to obtain weapons.

“We now have a complete generation that has grown up with this, many times over, from elementary school all the way up to now,” Bacon said. “They live with this the entire time.”

Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who represents East Lansing, home of the MSU campus, said many believe a person can be a gun owner, an avid hunter, “and still believe in keeping kids safe in a place of sanctuary like a school.”

“People on the ground know you can believe in gun ownership and gun safety, they’re not mutually exclusive,” she said.

CNN’s Jack Forrest contributed to this post.

Tense, scary and chaotic was how Michigan State University student Joshua Thomas described his experience hunkering down in a classroom with dozens of students as a gunman went on a deadly shooting spree Monday night.  

Thomas was in the school’s STEM building on the first floor when he and other students received an email from the university about an active shooter. 

“That’s when everyone started to panic,” Thomas said.

Thomas, and a group of about 15 other students, went up to the third floor, looking for a place to hide. He said someone stuck their head out of a classroom and signaled for them to come inside. 

“Right after we got in, they barricaded the room with the tables,” he said. Thomas said there were around 75 students in the room.

After about four hours, the students heard a knock on the door and saw someone waving a flashlight. Students believed it could’ve been a police officer, but they were not sure, so one student called 911. On the phone, the dispatcher told them that officers were not on the third floor yet, so they kept the door shut.

In a video shot by Thomas, students are seen in a classroom with the lights turned off as someone shining a flashlight approaches the door and knocks. Someone inside the classroom is then seen walking over to the front door to remove a table that was being used as a barricade. 

“Sit down, I’m talking to the cops right now,” a student can be heard saying in the video. “They said don’t open the door,” another student yells. 

Thomas said the person did not open the door and the students stayed in the classroom for another 40 minutes before the police arrived.

“I never thought it would happen to me, I always felt safe on campus. I love this place, but after this, my sense of security completely dropped. I do not feel safe,” Thomas said.