Vigils held nationwide as country mourns students shot, killed in Michigan State University shooting

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The tragedy at Michigan State University is causing grief across the country Wednesday morning, including in the Chicago area, which has many students who attend the East Lansing college.

More has also been learned about the three young people killed – Brian Fraser, Alexandria Verner and Arielle Anderson.

Vigils are being held across the country, from East Lansing, to the victims’ hometowns, to north suburban Highland Park, which had its own mass shooting during a Fourth of July parade last year.

There will be a vigil on MSU’s campus Wednesday.

Classes are canceled, and Michigan State University is operating with only essential employees on campus while the investigation into the shooting continues.

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School officials said they plan to offer counseling to students, faculty and staff to allow for everyone to process what happened.

A vigil on the campus of MSU Tuesday night honored the victims of another rampage.

The three students killed were sophomore Brian Fraser, president of his fraternity; junior Alexandria Verner, a popular athlete known for her kindness; and Arielle Diamond Anderson, a junior who wanted to become a pediatrician.

“We were just hoping that maybe she was hiding somewhere,” Anderson’s aunt Kimella Spivey said.

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There’s also a clearer picture emerging of the suspect, who police said took his own life.

Authorities said 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours after opening fire in two buildings on campus.

Detectives said a note found on McRae listed other locations he wanted to attack in Michigan, Colorado and New Jersey.

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Investigators are still working to determine a motive, and said McRae had no connection to the victims or the university. He did have a history of mental illness.

Records show he also served 18 months in prison for a weapons charge, beginning in 2019.

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Michigan State student Jackie Matthews is from Newtown, Connecticut. She was in sixth grade when a gunman killed 20 students and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.

After the shots rang out Monday night, she said she was once again a witness to carnage.

“The fact that the odds of me being in both of those places for two mass shootings is unfortunately not as unlikely as it is, for other people as well. Enough is enough. It just needs to end,” Matthews said.

Classes at MSU will resume Monday.

A vigil is planned on campus Wednesday night to honor the victims.

Five students remain hospitalized in critical condition.