At least three people died and five more were in critical condition after a shooting at Michigan State University’s East Lansing campus on Monday night. The suspect was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot at an off-campus location about four hours after the first reports of an active shooter began.
The shooter, a 43-year-old man, was not affiliated with Michigan State, university police said in a briefing early Tuesday.
Police were on the scene at Berkey Hall, a social-science building on campus, within minutes of receiving multiple 911 calls, which began at 8:18 p.m., Michigan State interim deputy police chief Chris Rozman said. More shots were reported at the student union, adjacent to Berkey Hall, shortly after.
Rozman said early Tuesday that police could not confirm the victims’ identities or their connections to Michigan State. Two of the deceased victims were found at Berkey Hall, and the third was found at the student union, Rozman said.
Campus police had not received any threats of a shooting in recent days, he added.
The incident at Michigan State comes after a fall semester that saw two high-profile campus shootings. In October, University of Arizona professor Thomas Meixner was shot and killed by a former graduate student. And in November, a University of Virginia student was charged with three counts of second-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed three and injured two other UVA students on a charter bus returning to the campus, in Charlottesville, Va., from a field trip.
Campus activities at Michigan State, including classes and athletics, have been canceled for 48 hours. “This is a day of shock and heartbreak,” said Teresa K. Woodruff, the university’s interim president. “We will take two days to move to emergency operations so we can think and grieve and come together.”
Rozman called the incident a “senseless act of violence.” Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, whose sons attend Michigan State, echoed that sentiment in a statement on Twitter. “As a parent, there is no greater fear than having your child tell you there is an active shooter at their school. I experienced this terror along with thousands of other MSU families last night.”
Students can access crisis counseling via phone 24-7, and counselors would be available at a local community center beginning Tuesday morning, Michigan State’s health services tweeted.
