At least one person was killed, and several others were injured when gunfire erupted on the main campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing on Monday evening, according to authorities and local news sources.
Few official details about gun violence were immediately available. However, university police reported on Twitter that bullets were fired in two locations: near Berkey Hall and IM East.
Emily Guerrant, a Michigan State University (MSU) representative, was quoted by the Detroit News as saying that one verified death had occurred on campus, within Berkey Hall. However, Reuters was unable to confirm this information independently.
Multiple injuries have been reported, MSU's police and public safety Twitter account stated. Later, it was reported that an undetermined number of patients were brought to a nearby hospital.
Nearly two hours after the first report of gunfire on campus, MSU police confirmed that several campus buildings had been cleared and secured.
Police and the mayor of East Lansing, a college town in Lansing, the state capital, and approximately 90 miles northwest of Detroit, tweeted that a single suspect, initially described as a short man wearing a mask, was at large and suspected to be on foot.
Authorities asked students, teachers, and residents of adjacent off-campus neighbourhoods to "shelter in place" while searching for the perpetrator.
MSU is a prominent public institution of higher education with 50,000 graduate and undergraduate students at its flagship East Lansing campus. Monday evening, university police announced that all classes and campus events would be cancelled for the following 48 hours.
On November 30, 2021, a 15-year-old student opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol at Oxford High School in Oakland County, Michigan, about 80 miles east of East Lansing. The violence on Monday night occurred around 14 months later.
This was the bloodiest school shooting in the United States that year, with four classmates killed and six pupils and one instructor wounded.
The young suspect, who has pleaded not guilty to murder charges, allegedly used a gun his parents gave him for Christmas despite showing signs of emotional disturbance. In this case, both parents were charged with involuntary homicide.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer tweeted that she was receiving a briefing on the shooting in East Lansing.
