LANSING (WWJ) – A bill that would require universal criminal background checks for gun owners has advanced to the Michigan House floor for consideration.
The bill made it out of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday after lawmakers heard emotional testimony. Among those to speak was Krista Grettenberger, the mother of Michigan State University shooting survivor Troy Forbush.
Grettenberger recounted the phone call she received from her son the night of the shooting that claimed three lives and injured five others, including Forbush.
“At 8:18 p.m. my son called my cell phone and said ‘I love you, mom. I’ve been shot. There’s a shooter,’” Grettenberger said. "My beautiful 21-year-old son called right after being shot to tell me that he loved me.”
She said he didn't want her to hear it from the police, the news or the hospital.
After screaming his name, Grettenberger says she got no response. She stayed on the line, noting she heard his classmates working together to secure the classroom and help the injured.
Forbush recalls hearing his classmates “asking for belts, rushing around, screaming and frightened,” as he laid on the ground in his own blood following the shooting, according to Grettenberger.
“One classmate even took his own shirt off and pressed it to my son’s chest. My son was terrified. This was his worst nightmare. A nightmare he actually practiced for over and over again since he was little,” she said.
Grettenberger, who lives near the MSU campus, rushed over to Berkey Hall, she said. When she couldn’t get her car any closer to the scene, she got out and began running down Grand River Avenue.
“There, I found Troy being loaded in an ambulance. He was as gray as cement. But I was able to tell him that I loved him and he was strong before the ambulance sped away,” she said.
“I didn’t find out until later that in the classroom, my son came face-to-face with the shooter and pled for his life,” she said. “‘Please don’t shoot me,’ were the words they said before the gunman shot him in his chest.”
Along with the universal background checks, Michigan lawmakers are also considering bills for safe storage laws and extreme risk protection – also known as “red flag laws.”
Grettenberger says we won’t know if any of the proposed legislation would have stopped the MSU shooting, but it may have.
“Please come together as our respected lawmakers and do everything possible to pass all laws that can help save Michiganders from becoming the next victim of gun violence. And that starts with passing this crucial bill package,” she said.
As the bill made it out of committee, the House could vote on it late Wednesday night.
Three students – Brian Fraser, Alexandria Verner and Arielle Anderson – were killed in the shooting. Forbush was the first of three students to be released from the hospital. Two others remained hospitalized.
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