On Feb. 13, three students were killed and five were injured in a mass shooting on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. A gunman went into the Berkley Hall building on campus at 8:18 PM and opened fire on students gathered in the building. The shooter then went into the MSU Union building and continued shooting at students. MSU put out a “run hide fight” alert tweet and text, as well as putting the entire campus on lockdown. According to Michigan State Police, the gunman was confronted off campus by police and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound around 11:35 PM. 

The three victims of the shooting were junior Arielle Diamond Anderson, sophomore Brian Fraser, and junior Alexandria Verner. Fraser was the president of the school’s Phi Delta Theta fraternity; he was remembered as a great friend by the brothers in his chapter in a post on the MSU PDT Instagram page

Anderson’s family told The Detroit News that Anderson was a “well-liked and kind-hearted member of her community.” 

The public school district where Alexandria Verner graduated from released a statement, saying “Alex was, and is, incredibly loved by everyone. She was a tremendous student, athlete, leader, and exemplified kindness every day of her life.” The five wounded students are currently still hospitalized, three are in critical condition while two are in stable condition.

MSU officials canceled all activities for 48 hours and canceled classes for the week after the shooting. All classes in the buildings where the shooting occurred were relocated for the rest of the semester. The buildings themselves will be closed till further notice, with MSU stating they would decide on the building’s future later. The school and the local government of East Lansing have begun offering counseling services and therapy dogs for students. Sources have been made available on MSU for students seeking help. The Rock, a large boulder that has served as billboard for campus events was painted with a variety of messages in the days after.

Many of the students who were taking shelter had already been through a mass shooting before. Several survivors took to social media to discuss how they had now been a survivor of two shootings and how so little has changed since the first shooting. 

Some had survived the Oxford High School shooting in Oxford Township, Michigan in December 2021, another who posted a video on TikTok was a survivor of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. The main consensus of the statements was the same one that was painted on the rock right after the shooting, “How Many More?”

MSU Interim President Teresa Woodruff expressed her sorrow in a video message and urged Spartans to seek help in their grief and remain unified in the wake of the tragedy. 

US President Joe Biden expressed condolences, as did Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who ordered flags at half staff. Michigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin (D), who’s district covers both East Lansing and Oxford Township, expressed anger during a press conference that this is the second mass shooting in her district in 15 months. 

Several MSU students and groups have organized gun control protests at the Michigan State Capitol and some have expressed a desire on social media to have protests on campus if MSU makes students come back too soon.

Multiple verified GoFundMe’s have been set up by families of the victims of the tragedy as well as MSU’s Spartan Strong Fund to cover the family’s medical bills. Visit www.gofundme.com and type in “MSU” to find a verified fund to donate to.