On Tuesday, law police identified Lansing, Michigan resident Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, as the culprit in the midnight shooting at Michigan State University that claimed the lives of three students and left five others injured.
A law enforcement source briefed on the matter claimed McRae led police on an hour-long manhunt before passing away from a self-inflicted gunshot wound as officers approached him.
The insider further stated that two firearms—one found on the scene and the other in a backpack—along with multiple magazines were discovered.
According to sources, authorities are currently searching McRae’s social media accounts and online writings for any evidence of extremist ideas, such as indicators of misogyny, satanic musings, potential conspiracy theories, and signals of isolation.
According to the state’s Department of Prisons, McRae was sentenced to 18 months of probation after pleading guilty to a weapons offense for keeping a loaded firearm in his car in 2019.
The crime was committed in East Lansing-covering Ingham County. He is described as a guy standing at 5′ 4″ on the Department of Prisons website.
Police in Ewing, New Jersey, shared a statement on Tuesday noting that McRae “had a note in his pocket that indicated a threat to two Ewing Public Schools” and that an “investigation revealed that McRae had a history of mental health issues.”
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According to the police statement, McRae “had local ties to Ewing.”
Out of an abundance of caution, police in adjacent Trenton dispatched policemen to nearby schools early on Tuesday.
According to the information that has been made publicly available, John Cohen, a contributor to ABC News and a former Homeland Security official, said that
“this appears to be yet another in a growing list of angry, isolated, socially disconnected individuals who ultimately decided that violence is an appropriate way to express their anger at society and their personal existence.”
“If history is an indicator,” Cohen said, “we will also learn that there were points in time when his online and physical behavior should have raised red flags.”
Police in Michigan revealed the names of the victims on Tuesday in the late afternoon. All of the fatalities were university students.
A spokesman for Michigan State University stated that McRae had no known connection to the institution.