EAST LANSING (WWJ) - As he briefed the public in front of cameras and recorders about treating victims from the Michigan State University mass shooting on Tuesday morning, Dr. Denny Martin's voice wavered and he paused while overcome with emotion.
Sparrow Health System's interim president and chief medical officer looked at the ground and cried as he tried to tell of the overwhelming response and heroic efforts of first responders, doctors and hospital staff who jumped into action after eight people were shot on the East Lansing campus Monday evening.
Police said three people died in the shooting while Martin confirmed five others were critically injured and transported into the care of his hospital — all eight victims were students at the university.
Martin said life-saving procedures on the survivors were spearheaded by the emergency department physicians and trauma surgeons, but general surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, neurosurgeons and more all stepped up to help, wherever they could.
"There we so many people that just came in," Martin said while fighting back tears. "We received a lot of texts that were just, "I'm on my way,' and people showing up, 'where do you need me?'"
According to the chief medical officer, the victims arrived at Sparrow Hospital from the East Lansing campus last evening where doctors were waiting for them.
"I will give a lot of thanks to the individuals and the first responders on the scene. Our ability to care for these individuals starts in the field and they did a fantastic job," Martin said of officers and EMS personnel before continuing with his update. "Four of those individuals did require surgical intervention to treat their injuries. One individual did not and was taken to the critical care unit after being triaged in the emergency department."
As of Tuesday morning, Martin said all five victims remain in critical condition.
The doctor was in the middle of thanking his team for the "overwhelming" response, when he broke down.
"This is something we talked about this morning that we practice for very often, but never want to have to do and we did it... well," Martin stated. "I'm very proud of everyone."
Martin said he wasn't going to speak on the identities of the victims, but did say once again that they were all being actively being cared for by Sparrow.
Martin's comments come nearly 12 hours after the tragedy began unfolding on MSU's campus after 911 calls of shots fired came in shortly after 8 p.m. on Feb, 13.
“This truly has been a nightmare that we are living tonight." MSU Deputy Police Chief Chris Rozman said overnight.
Callers stated gunfire had erupted at Berkey Hall, where police said two people where shot to death. The suspect then moved to the nearby Union building and open fired again, killing a third person at the location.
Word of the shootings began to spread about 8:40 p.m. when MSU Police and Public Safety issued an alert for students, faculty and staff to shelter-in-place on the East Lansing campus.
The suspect shooter was confronted by police almost four hours after the first shots were reported. As the 43-year-old man, later identified as Anthony Wayne McRae, was approached by an officer, he shot and killed himself, ending the threat to campus and the surrounding community, authorities said.
In an early Tuesday morning press conference, Rozman said all the deceased and injured victims studied at MSU -- their identities will be released at a later time.
“We will share that information as soon as we are able to," he stated, "Please understand that behind every victim is a family and loved one and we need to be respectful to that."