For student, mass shooting was deja vu

For Jackie Matthews, a Michigan State University student, it was the second time in a decade of having the misfortune of being at the scene of a mass shooting.

Matthews was a sixth-grader at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 when that horrific mass shooting happened, she said in a TikTok video posted early on Tuesday.

She was at the Michigan State University on Monday night when a 43-year-old man, who was not a student or affiliated with the school in East Lansing, opened fire at two buildings, killing three students and wounding five others.

The dead students were identified as Brian Fraser, a second-year student, and Alexandria Verner and Arielle Anderson, both juniors. The five other victims were in critical condition in the hospital.

The shooter was identified as Anthony McRae of East Lansing. The Detroit News reported on Tuesday that he had a history of mental health problems and was charged with multiple gun-related crimes in 2019.

An hourlong manhunt after the shooting led police 8 kilometers from campus, where they found and confronted McRae, who police said shot and killed himself.

"Our Spartan community is reeling today," Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Michigan State graduate, said at the morning briefing.

US President Joe Biden pledged his support during a phone call, she said.

"We mourn the loss of beautiful souls today and pray for those who are continuing to fight for their lives," Whitmer said. "Another place that is supposed to be about community and togetherness is shattered by bullets and bloodshed."

Matthews said in her video that she was in a building directly across from where some of the shootings occurred.

"I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through," she said.

Matthews said she had crouched for so long that day in her Sandy Hook classroom on Dec 14, 2012, that her lower back was injured, an injury that recurs when she is under stress. The shooting at Sandy Hook left 26 people dead, 20 of them children.

"We can no longer provide just love and prayers," Matthews said. "It needs to be legislation; it needs to be action. It's not OK. We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent. I'll forever be Sandy Hook strong. I'll forever be Spartan strong."

Media reports said few students were seen walking through the residential areas and classroom buildings near the Union, one of the two buildings where the shooting occurred, Berkey Hall being the other.

The gunman had lived with his father in Lansing since his mother died two years ago.

'Evil angry'

McRae's father told CNN that his son had struggled to keep a job and was unemployed, but had worked for several years at a warehouse loading refrigerators onto trucks. However, he had become bitter, isolated and "evil angry" after his mother died from a stroke.

"Ever since my wife died, my son began to change," said Michael McRae, 67. "He was getting more and more bitter. Angry and bitter. So angry. Evil angry. He began to really let himself go. His teeth were falling out. He stopped cutting his hair. He looked like a wolf man."

McRae was found with a two-page note in his pocket detailing a plan for more shootings at two public schools in the township of Ewing, New Jersey, where authorities said McRae had lived years ago and had not visited for several years.

In 2019 McRae was charged with a felony for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for possessing a loaded firearm, Michigan Department of Corrections records show. He was put on probation for 18 months.

Agencies contributed to this story.