Police seek motive of gunman who killed 3 at Michigan State

The gunman who killed three students and wounded five at Michigan State University was a 43-year-old with a previous gun violation who fatally shot himself after an hourslong manhunt that ended in a confrontation with police miles from campus, officials said Tuesday. Investigators still were sorting out why Anthony McRae fired inside an academic building and the student union shortly before 8:30 p.m. Monday. The shootings led to a harrowing campus lockdown and a search for the gunman that ended roughly three hours later. “We have absolutely no idea what the motive was,” said Chris Rozman, deputy chief of campus police, adding that McRae, of Lansing, was not a student or Michigan State employee. Meanwhile, a school district in Ewing Township, New Jersey, closed for the day after being informed that McRae, who lived in the area years ago, had a note in his pocket indicating a threat to two schools there. It was determined there was no threat to the schools, local police said later in a statement shared publicly by the superintendent. The dead and injured in the gunfire at Berkey Hall and the MSU Union, a popular place to eat and study, were all Michigan State students. Five remained in critical condition at Sparrow Hospital, said Dr. Denny Martin, who fought back tears during a news conference. “This is still fluid,” Rozman said. “There are still crime scenes that are being processed, and we still are in the process of putting together the pieces to try to understand what happened.” The shootings took place in an area of older, stately buildings on the northern edge of the campus, one of the nation’s largest at 5,200 acres. Just across busy Grand River Avenue lies East Lansing’s downtown, teeming with restaurants, bars and shops. “Our Spartan community is reeling today,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Michigan State graduate, said at the morning briefing. President Joe Biden pledged his support during a phone call, she said. “We mourn the loss of beaut