MSU shooter Anthony McRae had prior felony gun charge dropped, would have been barred from owning gun if convicted

The gunman who shot up Michigan State University Monday night, killing three students and critically injuring five more, wouldn’t have been able to legally own a gun had he been convicted of a past felony weapons charge that was dismissed.

Anthony McRae — who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after opening fire on the East Lansing campus — was arrested in 2019 when he was busted with a loaded gun near an abandoned building, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.

He was charged with possession of a loaded firearm after cops found him carrying the gun without a concealed weapons permit on June 7, 2019.

McRae, 43, was initially slapped with a felony weapons charge — which would have outlawed him from owning guns in the future if convicted, the Detroit Free Press reported.

However, he instead agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge and the felony rap was dropped as part of the deal, according to the outlet.

The lesser offense does not prohibit gun ownership and McRae reportedly bought another gun years after the arrest, according to an interview his father did with the Washington Post.

“Mr. McRae would have been barred from legally purchasing, owning, or possessing a firearm if he would have been convicted of the [concealed weapons] charge,” Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane told the local paper.

“The misdemeanor conviction did not prevent him from purchasing, owning, or possessing a firearm after he successfully completed his terms of probation.”

Former Ingham County District Attorney Carol Siemon, whose office lowered the charges to a misdemeanor, had been criticized for being soft on crime.

Siemon, a Democrat who retired at the start of the year, faced backlash from local elected officials for changing her office’s policy in 2021 regarding sentencing for people who commit crimes while carrying a firearm, whether it’s used or not. The policy had carried an automatic two year-sentence , which Siemon said worsened racial disparities, Fox 47 reported at the time.

After pleading guilty to the misdemeanor, McRae was placed on probation from Oct. 2019 through May 2021. The Michigan DOC confirmed that he did not have any issues on probation and never submitted a positive drug test.

The mass shooter was carrying a Ruger LCP .380 semi-automatic pistol and a loaded magazine when he was arrested in 2019, according to the Free Press.

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Police recovered the gun McRae is believed to have used to kill and injure MSU students Monday night, but have not revealed information about the type of firearm used.

The gunman’s father Michael McRae told The Washington Post that his son had lied about owning a gun. The father said he questioned his son about hearing the sounds of gunfire in the backyard, but was told it was fireworks and that he no longer had a gun.

Follow The Post’s coverage of the tragic shooting at Michigan State University

Neighbors also complained that the younger McRae would dangerously fire off a gun in his backyard after he completed probation in May 2021, according to the Free Press.

McRae had no known affiliation with MSU and investigators are still searching for a motive in the deadly shooting.

“We have absolutely no idea what the motive was at this point,” MSU Police Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman said early Tuesday.

The gunman’s father said his son struggled with mental health issues that turned him “evil” following the death of his mother in 2020.

The three fatal victims were identified as students Brian Fraser, Arielle Diamond Anderson and Alexandria “Alex” Verner.

The five remaining victims were still hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday afternoon.