EAST LANSING (WWJ) – Michigan State University police have announced they’ve found no conclusive motive in the mass shooting on campus that killed three students and injured five others in February.
Police officials on Thursday morning released a slew of new details surrounding the Feb. 13 shooting, carried out by 43-year-old Anthony McRae.
Among the new details, authorities say McRae bought 9mm ammo around 4:45 p.m. that day, about three-and-a-half hours prior to opening fire on campus.
Based on the findings of investigators it has been preliminarily determined that there’s no conclusive motive as to why McRae targeted the school, officials said. He did not have any personal or professional connection to MSU and did not apply to work at the university in recent history, according to officials.
Investigators determined the note found on McRae after he took his own life hours after the shooting "provides the most information about his state of mind at the time of the shooting.”
Authorities have also completed the search into McRae’s electronic devices and still believe that he acted alone in the shooting.
MSU Public Safety spokesperson Dana Whyte told WWJ the investigation is “for the most part finished.”
“I wouldn’t say that it’s done yet,” she said. “It is the last week of classes as well on campus, so we wanted to make sure that we were getting this out before students left for the summer break.”
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In the update released Thursday, police also released an updated timeline of events the night McRae opened fire at Berkey Hall and the Student Union, including several things police didn’t know that night.
McRae got off a bus at the Grand River/Berkey Hall stop at 7:19 p.m. and walked eastbound past the Broad Art Museum at 7:24 p.m. He then walked back past the museum headed west at 8:12 p.m.
Authorities did not say where McRae was in that nearly one-hour time window.
Just six minutes after walking back past the museum, police received the first call of shots fired inside Berkey Hall. Police were dispatched a minute later at 8:19 p.m.
At that same time, McRae was seen walking west along Grand River Avenue in front of a parking garage. Police arrived at Berkey Hall at 8:20 p.m.
At 8:23 p.m., he fired one shot while walking from Berkey to the Union, believed to be near the Human Ecology Building. He entered at 8:24 p.m. and the first shots rang out inside the union at 8:26 p.m. Officers arrived at the Union one minute later and the first MSU Alert was sent at 8:30 p.m.
A person matching McRae’s description was seen walking near Harrison and Grand River at 9:14 p.m., the only other piece of new information discovered during the investigation.
After several more alerts and a first press conference shortly after 11 p.m., police sent an alert at 11:33 p.m. with a more detailed suspect description. Police received their first call of a person matching his description just two minutes later, reporting they were seen walking on Lake Lansing Road near High Street in Lansing.
At 11:49 p.m. officers approached McRae and he took his own life.
MSU police officials also released a map showing the best estimate of McRae’s path after he left the scene of the shooting to the place where he shot himself, nearly five miles away.
Officials still believe McRae acted alone, authorities said in Thursday’s update.
McRae had a blood alcohol content of .04 at the time of his death and also had THC in his system, officials said.
Both guns handguns found on McRae were purchased legally, according to MSU police, but neither was registered.
In the two months following the campus shooting the Michigan legislature has passed three packages of gun reform bills, including universal background checks, safe storage laws and so-called red flag laws.
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