Notes found on Michigan State gunman "gave an indication" of possible motive, police say
The gunman who killed three students and critically injured five more in a mass shooting at Michigan State University had two pages of notes in his wallet that police said could provide insight into why he did it.
The notes, which officers found on the shooter after he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the hours following the massacre, threatened several institutions, including a church, a New Jersey school district and various businesses to which he had personal ties, authorities confirmed at a news conference on Thursday morning.
Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, was previously identified as the suspect in Monday night's attack at the university. Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzalez said Thursday that authorities believe McRae acted alone and is the only suspect in the shooting. Although an investigation by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies aims to piece together the gunman's motive, they have not yet determined it, Gonzalez said.
However, McRae's notes could potentially give "an indication" of his motivation for allegedly carrying out the attack, Gonzalez said.
"That was the note that indicated where he was going to visit and also kind of gave an indication of why, maybe a motive, but nothing we can actually confirm just yet," he said Thursday, adding that investigators determined in their preliminary probe that McRae was affiliated in various ways with some of the businesses listed on those pages discovered in his wallet.
"Through our investigation, we found that he had contact with some of those places — he was an employee of the Meyer warehouse at one time, and a couple of the other businesses, it appears that he had some issues with the employees there where he was asked to leave," said Gonzalez. "So it looks like he, possibly a motive for that was he felt slighted and that's kind of what the note indicated."
In addition to the notes, Gonzalez said the suspect had two handguns, a backpack filled with eight loaded magazines of 9mm ammunition, a smaller bag that contained 50 rounds of loose ammunition, as well as a fully loaded magazine in his breast pocket. The suspect used one of the two handguns — which were both purchased legally, per an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, although neither was registered — to fatally shoot himself when officers followed a community tip to the spot in Lansing, just under four miles from the MSU campus, where they located McRae at about 11:30 p.m. on Monday.
Gonzalez shared new details about the police confrontation with the suspect on Thursday, saying that officers made contact with McRae as he appeared to be walking toward his home. He said the officers stopped their vehicle about 20 feet from the suspect and ordered him to show his hands, but the suspect "produced a weapon and killed himself."
Police identified the three victims of Monday's mass shooting the following day: Alexandria Verner, 20, a junior at MSU originally from Clawson, Michigan; Brian Fraser, 20, a sophomore from Grosse Pointe; and Arielle Anderson, 19, a junior also from Grosse Pointe. A spokesperson for Sparrow Hospital confirmed Thursday that all five students who were hospitalized with injuries after the shooting remained in critical condition. Authorities are not releasing their names at this time.