Shooting at the University of Michigan leaves 5 dead, XNUMX seriously injured

On the campus of the University of Michigan (MSU), 3 people were killed and 5 injured in a shooting. The attacker shot himself late on the evening of February 13, reports DetroitNews.

Photo: IStock

The 43-year-old suspect was located off campus, according to MSU Acting Deputy Police Chief Chris Roseman. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Shortly after midnight on February 14, the campus-wide stay-at-home order was lifted.

“This is really the nightmare we are living in today,” Roseman said at a 12:30 p.m. press conference.

According to Rozman, the suspect was not associated with MSU as a student or employee.

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"We have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight," Roseman said at a 1:30 a.m. press conference.

Just after 23:30 p.m., MSU police confirmed that three people had been killed in addition to the five injured, who were transferred to Lansing Hospital. According to hospital spokesman John Foren, at 1:00 am on February 14, all five remained in critical condition.
It wasn't immediately clear if any of the victims were MSU students or faculty, Rozman said.

The shooting occurred at Berkey Hall and the nearby MSU Student Union building along Grand River Avenue at the north end of the MSU campus near downtown East Lansing. Law enforcement has been working to establish a motive for the killings on campus, Roseman said.

“We are not sure of any connection the suspect has with the university,” Roseman said. “We have absolutely no information about what the motive was, and I can’t even imagine what it might be.”

Rozman said he understood there was contact with police shortly before the suspect shot himself.

A section of Lake Lansing Road near East Lansing was closed just after midnight due to a large police presence. The police have set up headquarters in the area. Once the state of emergency on campus is lifted, parents can come to pick up their children, the university said.

MSU leaders were shocked by the bloody shooting.

"We can't let this happen again," MSU Acting President Woodruff said at a 13:30 p.m. press conference. MSU has canceled classes on February 14 and 15.

“One of the things I'm most proud of is how quickly every student, staff, faculty took immediate action on a campus of this size,” he said. “They sheltered in place and sat there for hours.”

“MSU sympathizes with the victims and their families,” said Dan Kelly, Vice Chairman of the MSU Board of Trustees.

Marlon Lynch, MSU's vice president of public safety and police chief, said the campus will remain a crime scene to collect evidence for the next two days.

“I can’t say that everything will be as usual, because it is not,” Lynch said.

How it all began

The university said the first shots were fired at Berkey Hall at 20:18 pm. on the north side of campus near Grand River and Farm Lane.

“We received several 911 calls about a shooting at Berkey Hall,” Roseman said. “Numerous police officers responded immediately. They quickly arrived on the scene within minutes. And there they actually found several shooting victims.”

Police then responded to reports of a shooting at the MSU Student Union on Abbot Road, Roseman said. The suspected shooter exited the Student Union on foot from the north side of the building on Abbot Road and Grand River Avenue, he said.

“We provided assistance to the victims in both of these incidents, and law enforcement provided tremendous assistance to the campus to help in this situation,” Rozman said.

Michigan State Police released a security camera image of the suspect, who police described as a black man, short in stature, wearing red shoes, a denim jacket and a baseball cap.

Shots were reported later heard in nearby Snyder-Phillips Hall. But this information has not been confirmed.

Roseman said there were several false reports of shootings in other buildings on campus.

“Obviously that will be part of the investigation in terms of where these phone calls came from,” Rozman said.

Michigan State University student Dominic Molotki was in class on the evening of Feb. 13 when he heard a gunshot in the hallway, right outside the door, reports ABC.

“I was sitting next to the door and thank God my fight-or-flight reaction worked, because as soon as the first shot rang out, I rushed to the back of the classroom,” Hammers said.

Seconds later, the shooter walked into the classroom and fired "another three or four shots," Hammers said.

“I was hiding and covering myself,” he recalled. “I think one of the students in my class was injured.”

When the shooting stopped "after 30 seconds to a minute," Dominic said, he and his classmates began to break the window to escape.

“There was glass everywhere,” he added. “We broke the window and climbed out.”

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MSU spokeswoman Emily Gerrant initially said one person died in a shooting at Berkey Hall, which houses the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and the Department of Sociology, according to the MSU website. MSU later confirmed that three people were killed.

Many wanted to help

Five people injured in the shooting were taken to the nearby Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. There was no information available on their condition.

As news of the MSU shooting spread throughout the Lansing area, MSU employees rushed to the hospital or called and offered help.

Down the street from Berkey at the Broad Museum, students and staff could be seen sheltering inside, wrapped in blankets. One woman stopped a reporter to ask how she could pick up her daughter from the dorm. The police blocked access to the building.

Alexis Dinkins, an MSU sophomore, was in Akers Hall, an on-campus residence hall, when she heard people barricade the doors and yell, “Run! Run! Run!" So she said that she and the other Akers students started to run away.

When they left the hostel, they were confronted by the police, who told them to go to the nearest bus stop.

"We don't feel safe anywhere," Dinkins said, standing with a group of students on the campus sidewalk after escaping from Akers. She described the situation as "terrible".

“All I could do was just think, you know, about nothing and everything at the same time,” said 18-year-old Mathaia Newbern, a freshman and social scientist.

A police helicopter regularly circled the campus. Several different departments arrived on the scene, including agencies from neighboring departments such as the Livingston County Sheriff's Department, Meridian Township Police, and the Ingham County Sheriff's Department.

Text messages were also sent to students on campus around 20:30 p.m. on Feb. 13. “Barricade yourself in place immediately,” the messages said. “Run, hide, fight.”

The MSU shooting comes 14 months after a lone shooter killed four students and wounded six students and a teacher at an Oxford high school. Ethan Crumbly, who was 15 at the time, pleaded guilty to the shooting in October and is awaiting a hearing where a judge will decide whether he should be sentenced to life in prison.

Law enforcement has established a single command post at Cowles House on campus. The Michigan State Police, as well as the FBI, joined the MSU Campus Police on campus.

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Around 21:40 pm, someone called out from a campus dorm window, "Have you caught him yet?"

About 30 fire engines, ambulances and other emergency vehicles lined up outside the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum on Grand River Avenue in downtown East Lansing.

At another point, two armed law enforcement officers were leading about 100 students along the sidewalk.

“I have been informed of a shooting at Michigan State University,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on Twitter on the evening of Feb. 13. — Michigan State Police along with local law enforcement and first responders are on scene. We will keep everyone updated as we learn more."

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