Police and paramedics responded to Michigan State University as a shooter was at large Monday night. Courtesy | Twitter
Hillsdale College Security took extra safety measures Monday night as a man killed three students and wounded five others during a shooting spree at Michigan State University.
“We increased our presence and monitored the situation by listening to the radio traffic in real time, as well as monitored the briefings that were given from the incident command on scene in Lansing,” said Associate Director of Security and Emergency Management Joe Kellam.
Sophomore Michaela Estruth, an RA in Olds Residence, said she was sitting desk with her friend and saw a notification that there had been a shooting at MSU.
“Five minutes later, a security car pulled up in front of Olds,” Estruth said. “They never do that unless we’ve called them.”
The suspect, 43-year-old Anthony McRae, killed two victims in MSU’s Berkey Hall and one in the Union, according to the Detroit Free Press. After nearly four hours of searching, police officers confronted McRae, who then shot and killed himself.
“I knew we had to barricade the door. I knew we had to get away from the windows,” said MSU freshman Lottie Moorehouse, daughter of Hillsdale’s Adjunct Instructor of Documentary Filmmaking Buddy Moorehouse. “It’s heartbreaking to me that we’re all, still as teenagers, so well-versed on what to do when there’s a shooting.”
Lottie Moorehouse was sitting in her friend’s room in Abbot Hall when her friend got a text saying there had been a shooting in the union. Soon after, the school sent students an email saying to “run, hide, fight” because there had been a shooting in Berkey Hall, between the union and Abbot Hall.
“What’s going through my mind is, ‘Oh my goodness, two locations that are getting progressively closer to me,’” Moorehouse said.
Police received calls that the suspect had started shooting in Berkey Hall around 8:15 p.m., according to a press release. The suspect then moved into the union, according to the Detroit Free Press. But Moorehouse didn’t know that.
Moorehouse said she brought her roommate to her friend’s room, where they reached out to their parents and started listening to the police scanner. They stayed there all night until it was safe.
“The very first thing we heard is, ‘Shots fired in Snyder-Phillips,’ which is the building that’s 300 to 400 feet away from me,’” Moorehouse said. “We freaked out at that point. We barricaded the door, shut off all the lights, and crowded in a corner, all crying – that was the worst part of the night.”
Buddy Moorehouse said he kept in touch with Lottie by text to avoid causing any noise.
“We didn’t want to call her, because we didn’t want her to have to talk in the room,” he said. “They wanted everyone to keep quiet and lights out.”
Listening to the police scanner was confusing, Lottie Moorehouse said, as police were responding to many calls across campus.
“It was just straight chaos. I was just frantically texting people back letting them know that I was still okay,” Moorehouse said. “There was so much misinformation at one point. We heard there were explosives, we heard them calling it a terrorist attack.”
All night, police responded to reports of shots fired across campus, reports of multiple shooters, suspicious vehicles, and bomb threats, according to the police scanner. Police concluded McRae was the only suspect.
Kellam said Hillsdale students should download the Alertus and Rave Guardian apps, as the college will use them to communicate with students if a threat comes to campus. Students using Alertus should select the user name “Hillsdale College” and use the access code “hilcol.” Kellam also said to use the “run, hide, fight” method in case of a shooting, and classrooms contain Nightlock door stops.
Police released a photograph of McRae around 11:20 p.m., according to a press release. A caller saw the photo and reported his location, leading officers to him around 11:35 p.m. in Lansing.
Officers confronted McRae around 11:50 p.m. at Lake Lansing Road and North Larch Street, according to the police scanner. He shot himself, and officers called paramedics to the scene. They found McRae had no pulse, and around 12 a.m., officers found guns and ammunition in his backpack.
Police are unsure of McRae’s motive, according to the Detroit Free Press. He was sentenced to prison in November 2019 for possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle, and was released in May 2021, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
MSU lifted its shelter-in-place order around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday. Buddy Moorehouse then drove to campus, where he picked up Lottie and her friends at 1 a.m.
“It was relieving for sure,” Lottie Moorehouse said. “It’s just so sad because I was able to hug my parents, and I couldn’t help but think about those who aren’t going to be able to hug their parents.”
Buddy Moorehouse said he and his wife had been keeping in touch with the families of Lottie’s friends. He picked up his daughter and her friends as soon as it was safe.
“The best hug I’ve ever given my daughter was when she came out of her dorm,” he said. “What my daughter went through and what we went through was obviously terrifying, but it can’t touch what those families are experiencing, so all of my prayers are with them.”
The students who died in the attack were juniors Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner, and sophomore Brian Fraser, according to a press release. The victims were all from Michigan. Fraser and Anderson were from Grosse Pointe, and Verner was from Clawson.
“I think that it’s something we should have never had to go through,” Lottie Moorehouse said. “We’ve met a few people here in East Lansing that went to Oxford High School, and it breaks my heart knowing that they’ve gone through this twice now.”
The police and school seemed to handle the situation well, Buddy Moorehouse said.
“It looked like every single police officer in Michigan was there,” he said. “I was very impressed with the way the school handled it and with the way the police handled it. They were transparent, they were very urgent, and they communicated with everything.”
Hillsdale Professor of Music James Holleman, MSU ’89, said he first heard about the shooting from a friend.
“At the time I heard of it, it was still an active shooting. When you know it’s going on now, it’s real,” he said. “It was right within the vicinity of the music school – Berkey Hall, and the union is right across from the music school.”
Holleman said he saw college friends checking in with each other online, making sure their kids were safe.
“When I turn on my news feed, one of the thoughts in the back of my head is, ‘Where was the shooting today?’ Are we actually choosing to live like this?” he said. “To be up the road, and to be at your alma mater – the only thing closer would have been right here.”
Kellam said to call 911 in a shooting, and if students see anything suspicious, to call security at 517-398-1522.
