CLICK TO LISTEN TO JACK MCEVERS DESCRIPTION OF MSU SHOOTING
When Jack McEvers graduated from Manistique High School last spring, he was excited to become a Michigan State University student.
This fall, he packed his bags for East Lansing, his parents took him to campus, and McEvers officially became a Spartan.
Never, for even one minute, did he think he would spend a night hiding in his dorm room while a killer stalked his campus along the shores of the Red Cedar River.
But that’s exactly what happened Monday night as a gunman, identified as 43-year-old Anthony McRae strolled onto campus with a gun. Moments later, he had shot eight people, all of them MSU students. Three have died, and five are still in the hospital.
McEvers says the first he knew something was wrong when his phone went off at 8:20 Monday night as he sat in is dorm room.
“We all got E-Mails saying there was an active shooter, and they give us a plan,” McEvers said. “It was called Run, Hide, Fight. It was like, run, hide, and if you can’t do either of those, fight. And so my roommate got back moments later, and we were researching, and then all of a sudden it was on the news. Then, it became VERY real.”
And very confusing. McEvers says at that moment, he had no idea where the gunman was, so it was time to hide.
“All these false reports started showing up,” he said. “We were being fed a lot of misinformation, that he was moving across campus, and that he was here, that he was there. We didn’t know, because he was active for about three-and-a-half hours. We didn’t know what to do, but my RA (dorm resident advisor) sent us a group chat and told us to turn off the lights, get down on the ground, and get away from your windows.”
And so there McEvers was, a freshman five hours away from his hometown, with no car, hiding on the floor of his dorm room.
“I don’t think any of us expected to have to sit there for three-and-a-half hours like we did,” McEvers said. “But it started to get real, especially at my building, I live in Hubbard Hall, and there was a rumor that he was in the first floor of pour building at one point. Cops were on the scene. There were helicopters whizzing by. I think they actually stormed the building to make sure he wasn’t in there, and he wasn’t.”
McEvers says the unknown was the worst part, not knowing if he or his friends would be in the cross-hairs of this shooter.
“It was just absolute chaos.” McEvers said. “It was quite a scary three-and-a-half hours. I got texts from everyone and their brother. It was just a chaotic night. I mean, it’s just a tragedy. It was very unprovoked. I mean, the guy (McRae) had no ties (to the university), he was just crazy. It was just sad to see people have to suffer at the hands of something that was completely unprovoked and senseless.”
The shooter, McRae, shot himself to death in the City of Lansing, well off campus. But not before he had traumatized thousands of people, including McEvers and other students from the Upper Peninsula.
Michigan State University is closed for the rest of the week, with classes resuming next Monday. McEvers’ dad, Jason, actually drove to East Lansing Tuesday morning to bring him back to the U.P. He was in Escanaba Tuesday night to watch his little brother’s Manistique Eneralds hockey team play a game in Escanaba.
What does McEvers think things will be like when he returns to campus Monday?
“I was discussing this with my roommate and with some of my friends,” McEvers said. “We’re not gonna feel comfortable going to dining halls for a while, or getting food, or even going to classes, right? It’s gonna be a weird environment. Everyone’s gonna be paranoid. It sucks that it has to be this way.”
“I think I’m handling it a lot better than most,” he continued. “I mean, there were a lot of people there. The Union building is a busy building, and that’s where the second shooting happened.”
McEvers did not personally know any of the victims, but one of his friends does.
“My suitemate was across the street, eating food, when it happened,” McEvers said. “He ran, and he called a Uber. That’s how he got back, and he actually sat with us on the floor for a while. He heard all the initial screams and gunshots.”
McEvers, thankful to be alive, and thankful to be sleeping in his own bed in Manistique, can’t get Monday night out of his mind.
“It’s a healing process, definitely, that’s getting started,” he said. “It’s gonna be a while, but we’re gonna get through it.”
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