A gunman killed three students and critically injured at least five others during a mass shooting which took place in two areas of the Michigan State University in East Lansing, on Monday night.
Police identified the 43-year-old Lansing resident Anthony Dwayne McRae as the suspect in the overnight MSU mass shooting.
McRae died from a self-inflicted gunshot after an hourlong manhunt, according to a Tuesday article by ABC News.
Juniors Alexandria Verner and Arielle Anderson along with sophomore Brian Fraser died during the shooting, according to a Tuesday Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety press release.
San Jose State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson released a campuswide email on Tuesday, expressing her condolences to the friends and the families of the victims.
“Our SJSU community stands with the community of East Lansing as they grieve, heal and move forward,” Teniente-Matson stated in the email.
Teniente-Matson stated no community is immune to the gun violence afflicting the United States.
“The fact that such violence took place on a college campus, causing fear, terror and disruption to the routines of daily life that we all know well hits particularly hard,” Teniente-Matson stated.
As of writing, 67 mass shootings occurred in the United States in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a not-for-profit corporation that provides information about gun-related violence in the United States.
There have been more mass shootings at this point of the year than in any other year of the last decade.
Associated Students President Nina Chuang said it is heartbreaking to hear that this has happened on a college campus.
“The fact that it was on a college campus and the fact that students that were affected [. . .] it's a reality check for us of how much work we have to do, and how much we really need each other during these times,” Chuang said.
She said while students grieve, heal and process gun violence, there is always the constant fear that it may happen again. Chuang said despite the community's effort to educate and prevent shootings, mass shootings continue to rise.
“My hope is that, as we continue to grow in our identities, as students . . . that our generation takes a space to combat these really systemic issues that have infiltrated our safe spaces, including universities and areas of comfort,” said Chuang.
President Joe Biden released a statement on Tuesday which assured Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer that he is directing the deployment of “all necessary federal law enforcement to support local and state response efforts.”
“I assured her that we would continue to provide the resources and support needed in the weeks ahead,” stated Biden.
In his release, Biden also stated it is important to take action toward gun violence across the country and that Congress must enact common-sense gun law reforms.
“Too many American communities have been devastated by gun violence,” Biden said. “ I have taken action to combat this epidemic in America, including a historic number of executive actions and the first significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years, but we must do more.”
