3 people killed at Michigan State University shooting

A gunman opened fire on Saturday night at Michigan State University, killing three people and wounding five others, before fatally shooting himself a kilometer away after an hour-long manhunt that forced students afraid to hide in the dark.

Police announced the death of a man early Tuesday, four hours after the shooting broke out in Berkey Hall, an academic building, and later near the MSU Union, a popular hub for eating or studying.

“This is a nightmare we’re dealing with tonight,” said Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the campus police department.

Hundreds of officers have scoured the East Lansing campus, about 145 kilometers northwest of Detroit, for the suspect, which the police described as a short black man with red shoes, a jeans jacket and a ball cap.

The 43-year-old man was confronted by police on campus before killing himself with a “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Rozman said. His name was not immediately released, nor were details about the gun or what police found at the scene.

Rozman said the person was not a student or employee and was not affiliated with Michigan State. “We don’t know why he came to campus to do what he did tonight. This is part of the ongoing investigation,” said the vice president.

The shooting in Michigan State is the latest in a deadly new year in the US. .

‘A uniquely American problem,’ the governor said

In 2022, there will be more than 600 mass shootings in the US in which at least four people are killed or injured, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

“This is a uniquely American problem,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said.

Rozman said two people died at Berkey and another died at MSU Union, while five people were in critical condition at Sparrow Hospital. By 10:15 a.m., police said Berkey, as well as a nearby residence hall, had been secured.

Ted Zimbo said he was walking down the hall when he saw a woman with “tons of blood on her.”

“He told me, ‘Someone came into our classroom and started shooting,'” Zimbo told The Associated Press.

“His hands were full of blood. It was on his pants and his shoes. He said, ‘That’s my friend’s blood.'”

Zimbo said the woman went to find a friend’s car when she returned to the SUV on the parking deck and threw a blanket to hide for three hours.

Students hid for hours

Before the gunman was found dead, WDIV-TV meteorologist Kim Adams, whose daughter attended Michigan State, told viewers that the student had been broken down by the clock saga.

“He was hiding, all the lights were off in a dark room,” Adams said. Aedan Kelley, a junior who lives less than a mile east of campus, said he locks his doors and closes his windows “just in case.”

Sirens kept going, and helicopters hovered overhead. “It’s all very scary,” Kelley said. “Then I had everyone texting me thinking I was fine, which was overwhelming.”

Michigan State has about 50,000 students, including 19,000 who live on campus.

All classes, sports and other activities are canceled for 48 hours. The university’s interim president Teresa Woodruff said it will be a time of “reflection and grieving and coming together.”

“This Spartan community — this family — is coming back together,” Woodruff said.