(WWJ) Young people enjoying snacks and socializing Monday evening fled in panic when shots rang out in the Student Union at Michigan State University.
A total of eight MSU students were shot and three of them killed on the East Lansing campus, according to authorities, by a 43-year-old gunman who later took his own life.
Jack Harrell, an MSU student and nephew of JoAnne Purtan of WWJ's sister station WOMC, was inside the Union at the time of the deadly rampage.
Harrell estimates he was about 50 feet away from where shots were fired as he was eating in the dining area. He was not injured.
"I was sitting just about 20 feet, I would say, from the middle food station. Now behind those food stations is the kitchen area," he explained.
"I heard three gunshots, all of whom came from around that kitchen area... Essentially, there was one shot, and I thought that something had fallen, and everybody kind of went silent," Harrell said. "And then two more followed, and those were again from like behind the food area."
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After that third shot, Harrell said, "People began getting up and leaving, and then everyone started sprinting, and then there was pretty much a mass crowd running towards the door."
Harrell said, fortunately, there are multiple exits at the Union, so many students were able to get away.
"There were some people that were quick to react and get the hell out of there," he said, recalling "a mass group of people crowding at the door."
"I still just didn't believe that it was a shooting...So, obviously I followed and rushed out the door just in case. My keys and jacket and bag are still at the Union, so I don't know how I'm going to get those. But I still didn't really believe it until I got outside and saw a bunch of cop cars."
That's when Harrell said he and a friend from his Triathlon club really took off, running for up to a mile; just trying to get away from the Union as as fast as they could.
Harrell said he did not witness the shooting itself, but fled the scene with a student who did.
"There was a girl who ran out with us who did see him. She essentially ran outside of the Union and kind of caught up to my group." Harrel said. "She said that she saw a guy like walk in and pull a gun out of his jacket. She said he was a grown man, and then she actually saw him fire the three shots. She watched it, and then was able to run away."
After then group had run some distance, they stopped to catch their breath.
"After we got pretty far she asked one of my teammates if she was shot, because she was so adrenaline filled. She was terrified."
Harrell said he went to a friend's house because he wasn't comfortable being in public. "Because sometimes when there's one, there's more," he said.
Harrell and his friends then barricaded themselves inside what they determined would be the safest room in the house.
Police said the shooter killed two people and wounded others at Berkey Hall, before moving on to the Union where one student was found dead.
Officials said the suspect, identified as Anthony Dwayne McRae, shot himself late Monday night when confronted by officers in the city of Lansing.
Investigators at this time do not know what the motive might have been, as McRae had no known connection to the university.
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