By Paige Jackson ’24
Last Monday, February 13th, there was a shooting at Michigan State University. Four students were killed and five were injured. Arielle Anderson, Brian Fraser, and Alexandria Verner lost their lives. The shooter was believed to be a 43 year old man by the name of Anthony Dwayne McRae. He was found dead near the campus with a self inflicted bullet wound. However, it is not confirmed if it was him and it is still under investigation. In the meantime, several survivors of the shooting are sharing their stories on social media.
Marcy Creevy retold what she went through that Tuesday night in an eight minute and forty three second long video on Tiktok. The video went viral, with over four million views and nearly seven hundred thousand likes. Her comments were filled with sympathies, but that doesn’t change what happened to her.
Jackie Matthews and an anonymous freshman at MSU have both lived through school shootings in the past, and they are now two time survivors. Jackie also made a viral Tiktok, which was reposted by several news channels on their social medias.
No one should ever have to live through something so horrific and scarring, and the fact that Jackie, a personal friend of mine, lived through it twice makes me sick to my stomach. The state of our country is so much worse than we know. Europeans have been commenting on videos made by MSU students in shock and horror, unable to comprehend American society. We are the only country so overwhelmed with gun violence in our schools.
At a press conference after the shooting, Chris Rozman, the interim deputy chief of the police at Michigan State University said they have “absolutely no idea about a motive.” Families and friends of the victims hope to have more information uncovered soon.
So far in 2023, there have been 87 mass shootings and 52 of those were just in the month of January. Hundreds of lives have been lost this year. The Michigan shooting is one of many, and there doesn’t seem to be a foreseeable end to the slaughter. As students, it is important to advocate for gun safety and educate others on the epidemic that is gun violence in the US.
