We have an active shooter. We have an after square list a mass casualty
Welcome to Active Shooter, a podcast that covers the wise, the hows,
and the aftermath of active shooter and mass casualty events. They have an active
shooter in the building. A teching call says they are vag impact of a
shot on six nine eighties. We got shots fire at four fifteen eight at
a route to ninety one, So I don't like automatic fire on active shooter.
Courts of an active shooter, active shooter, active shooter and mass casualty
incidents. Thank you for listening. You are listening to Active Shooter, a
podcast that may contain adult themes, explicit language, and graphic depictions of violence.
Portions of the show may be dramatic for those under eighteen. Listener discretion
is advised. Breaking news out of Michigan with another mass shooting, this time
at two campus buildings at Michigan State University in East Lansing. But we're getting
reports of multiple victims are an active shooter. According to police, at least
three people are dead and five others injured. All five of those victims remain
in critical condition. Terrify students barricading themselves and their dorm asfully searched for the
suspect. The campus placed on lockdown. We saw people start running for their
lives, and we immediately knew, like some things off, like we got
to get inside, like lock the house down, turn off all the lights,
and disparricade ourselves inside. Police releasing this photo of the suspect, who
they now say is dead. That suspect is we now know is a forty
three year old mail. That forty three year old mail is not affiliated in
any way with Michigan State University. We've arrived at a place in time where
elementary, middle and high school students have experienced the utter horror of surviving a
mass school shooting, only to go on to college and live through yet another
ghastly unspeakable trauma. How does one overcome the paralyzing fear that is rapidly becoming
associated with the very act of attending school. The youth of the country have
lived through and survived a global pandemic, only to find themselves returning to pseudo
war zones rather than institutions of learning. Instead of freely roaming about sprawling campuses,
students find themselves sheltering in place, locked down for hours on end,
frozen by the panic of whether they will survive another act of terror or if
this will be their time. These aren't the types of decisions young minds should
be faced with, especially not within the halls of the place they ought to
feel the safest. The shooting at Michigan State University introduced us to several students
who had graduated from Oxford High School, where the two thousand eighteen shooting changed
their lives forever. Those same students attended Michigan State University, where a mere
two years later, they found themselves in the same heart pounding situation, locked
down under the thread of a massive school shooter. Today's case is dedicated to
the lives and memories of the five injured survivors and the three shooting victims,
Ariel Diamond Anderson, Brian Anthony Fraser, and Alexandria Werner. Active Shooter the
podcast is a High five Holly production, and I'm your host j T.
If you've listened to our prior episodes, you know that the Active Shooter podcast
team has taken thee No Notoriety Pledge and we will not be sharing the real
name to the shooters that we cover. We will be giving the shooters a
pseudonym and refer to them by that name throughout the episode. This will help
in clearing up any confusion in the story while remaining true to our pledge and
not naming the shooter by their actual name. We will refer to today's shooter
as Matt. Monday, February thirteenth, twenty twenty three was a mild,
sunny day for late winter in Michigan. The Michigan State University, which consists
of about fifty thousand students, is a busy, bustling campus that includes Burkey
Hall and the Michigan State University or MSU Union buildings. The MSU Union Building
is located at forty nine Abbott Road in East Lansing, Michigan, and Burkey
Hall is located at five oh six East Circle Drive in East Lansing. Burkey
Hall is an old building made up of a red brick and stone and is
where the majority of the social science classes are held. The building houses the
Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, the Department of Sociology, and the
College of Social Science. The campus was still active later in the evening at
around eight pm, though not quite as busy as during the daytime school hours.
Shortly after eight pm, forty three year old Matt walked across the university
campus towards Burkey Hall. He was wearing a jean jacket, black pants,
a baseball cap, and red shoes. Much of his face was concealed by
some type of clothing or a neck gator that was pulled up past his lips.
He carried a Taurus G three nine millimeter handgun and a high Point C
nine nine millimeter handgun, which he didn't actually fire. It was approximately eight
eighteen PM when outside of Room one fourteen in Burkey Hall, Matt opened the
back door to the classroom, aimed, and fired, launching about fifteen rounds
into the room. Right when that first got child went off. I looked
at the far corner of the class I was sitting right next to the door
where he came in, literally one of the first two seats he came in,
and I thank god my fight or flight response kicked in because I had
booked into the far side of the class and ducked down, and he came
in and shot three to four times in our our classroom. Marco Diaz Munaz
was teaching in Room one fourteen when the door suddenly swung open and gunflier exploded.
Only one minute after the initial shot rang out, the first nine one
one call was being placed reporting shots fired at Burkey Hall. Immediately, the
phones began to light up as petrified callers reported the shooting. Hello at the
nine one one up and there. I'm at Burkey Hall and my cock books
got what thought? How many people? I don't know? I don't know.
I can't how I can't help one out of a class? Where exactly
did you hear this hallway? How many shots did you hear? Maybe?
Can is somebody's shot? Believe door shot? Who was shot? Like?
You do you see who's shooting? Yeah? I thought it was a part
of it. Okay, are you injured? No? Where are you?
It's not breathing. Do you know what kind of injuries they have? Yeah?
I don't know. But he's bleeding out a big year a mouth.
He's unconscious right now. I have no idea he's unconscious to all he's breathing
like, oh, okay, No, I don't think it's breathing quite well?
Sha it right now? I don't know. I don't know where they
were Did you get the person? No? No, I did not.
Are you guys able to uh push the door closed? Make sure to put
anything up at the door for a now okay, okay, but make sure
you got the window is covered and make sure that's just barricade the door until
we can get some money there. Okay, what's your name? Majured at
the chop? Okay, to take at toner that you stake by it here?
Where are I will let you know as soon as I have any update
from my officers. Okay, can you guys get out of the room.
Can you get out of the window, Get out of that building and just
run? All right? Got it? Can you do that? Yeah,
I'm outside the window. I'm out, all right. I need you to
run to the safety, to another building or where are we going? The
university sent out an alert via text message and on Twitter. The message was
simple yet utterly terrifying. It read quote active shooter, run, hide,
fight further. A shelter and place order was issued across campus. You know,
we were scared to go by the windows. We didn't want any scene.
We didn't want to be potentially targeted through the windows, but we had
to shut our blinds. We had to turn off lights, and we turned
off all the lights, and then we had to try to move everything quietly
with our lights off and windows, clothes stores locked as much as we could
get them, and just shoving our dressers and our chairs and any other miscellaneous
bits and bobbles we had back inside classroom one. Fourteen seven students were struck
with flying bullets, including Ariel Anderson and Alexandria Verner, both of whom were
fatally shot. Nineteen year old Riel Ari Anderson was born in two thousand and
three in Harper Woods, Michigan. She attended Detroit Public Schools Community District from
kindergarten through sixth grade before heading to middle school at Parcels. Ari graduated from
gross Point North High School in twenty twenty one and was a sophomore at MSU
before she was killed. A bright young woman, Ari intended to graduate early
and then go right into medical school. She had big plans to become a
surgeon one day and didn't want to waste a moment that could be spent working
towards her future. Her middle school mock elections saw Ari earn the distinction of
most likely to succeed and a success she was. Ari served as a mentor
for many students, and she was consistently on the honor roll and student counsel.
Her family says she was friends with everyone and her smile could brighten up
any one's day. Known for her perpetual smile, Ari genuinely cared for others,
as evidenced by her dedication to caring for her aunt with special needs.
A lover of all things music, Ari was an avid concert grower and her
favorite artist was Ariana Grande, whose music she could dance to all day long.
Her mother says Ari was her best friend and the last thing her daughter
texted to her was a joke, which was just her way. She loved
to make others laugh, and her mom struggles each and every day trying to
learn how to live without her daughter her minime. Such an intense great loss
is something that no parent should ever have to live with. Twenty year old
Alexandria Verner, also known as Alex, was born on August seventeenth, two
thousand and two, to Tedan Nancy Verner. She was raised in claus In,
Michigan, with her siblings, including brother t J. And sister Charlotte.
Described as a warm, caring friend, Alex was usually the first to
stick up for someone in need. She attended claus In High School, graduating
in twenty twenty, and was an athlete who excelled in three sports. She
played volleyball, was All state in softball, and was the league MVP in
basketball and helped lead her team to a few championships. However, Alex wasn't
just an athlete. She was a wonderful student who was on the National Honor
Society and the Student Leadership Council during high school. She worked hard, studied
hard, and took her education seriously, even earning straight a's in college.
Alex was a junior at MSU and dreamed of working in forensic science one day.
The incredibly popular young woman was remembered during a visual that was held at
claus In High School on February fourteenth. Her school sports jerseys, including her
number ten softball jersey and her number twenty four basketball jersey, were there.
Alex will forever be remembered for her generous spirit and caring nature. Students and
Professor Diaz Munos's room, which were the first attacked, made attempts to escape
through the windows that had been busted out, while others stayed behind try to
provide aid to their injured classmates. Students later recounted the panic mixed with the
screaming and so so much blood. Some students, who were barely children became
adults in an instant after looking directly into the face of evil. The students
in Room one fourteen were heroes in their own right, providing life saving support
to their classmates, including making tourniquets out of belts. After shooting up Room
one fourteen, Matt walked towards the Union building, which was about a five
minute walk across campus, though running on pure adrenaline likely got him there a
bit quicker. As he approached the union, Matt saw Brian Fraser, and
without a word or hesitation, he raised the firearm and shot, killing the
twenty year old student. Brian was born in Detroit, Michigan, on October
eighteenth, two thousand and two, to parents Sean and Mia Phrase. He
grew up in gross Pointe Park with a sister named Michaela, and attended Saint
Paul on the Lake Catholic School as well as gross Point South High School.
An athlete in high school, Brian competed on both the swimming and diving teams
at gross Point High and the Country Club of Detroit. He was a sophomore
studying business at MSU when he was murdered. Brian was also serving as president
of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and was considered an all around great student who
was recognized as a leader in the community. He was very active in a
compassionate, caring young man. Brian loved spending time with friends and family,
especially if he could make them laugh, which he often did. Brian will
be remembered for many things, but most especially his piercing blue eyes and kind
smile. He lived life to the fullest and did his best to encourage the
others along their paths in true Brian fashion. His organs were donated to those
in need, and his generous spirit will live on within those his precious gifts
have saved. A go fund me was established and helped raise over thirty two
thousand dollars. After he shot Brian, Matt walked towards the north side of
the Union building, which is near the border of the campus property. As
such, nearby residents were ordered to shelter in place. Tenants in an apartment
building located close to the Union building heard gunshots, and as residents peered out
of their windows, they were confronted by the bone chilling sighte of police officers
running towards the gun blasts. Moments later, those same tenants received an email
from the university ordering them to seek shelter immediately. Because most of the tenants
had practiced active shooter drills, they were well versed in what steps to take,
and they all jumped right into the action, lowering blinds on the window,
barricading their doors, and turning lights off. Several residents hid in their
apartments until they were given the all clear signal. You know, we were
scared to go by the windows. We didn't want any scene. We didn't
want to be potentially targeted through the windows. But we had to shut our
blinds, we had to turn off lights, and we turned off all the
lights, and then we had to try to move everything quietly with our lights
off and windows closed, doors locked as much as we could get them,
and just shoving our dressers and our chairs and any other miscellaneous bits and bobbles
we had. The law enforcement response was immense. Hundreds of officers from local,
state, and federal agencies responded, along with approximately thirty fire trucks,
ambulances and the other emergency response vehicles, which were parked along Grand River Avenue
alongside the Eli and Edith Broad Art Museum in downtown East Lansing. At nine
fourteen pm, a surveillance camera captured an image of a man described as the
shooter. The man was walking down an alleyway, and moments later, SWAT
vehicles and police raced down an adjacent street, passing the man. They doubled
back, and by nine sixteen pm, university police paged over the radio that
the suspect was believed to be on foot, fleeing and shooting. Thousands or
possibly more students were glued to their police scanners, desperate for any tidbit of
information. Fear and panic was at an all time high as students texted family
and friends, unsure if it would be the last communication they would ever send.
Just before nine thirty pm, the university texted students that another shooting was
reported at i AM East, which is a student gym located over a mile
from the Union building. Minutes later, the report was followed up by another
report that the gym was secured and no shots had been fired at i AM
East. At about eleven p m. The campus police held their first press
conference, saying they believed there was a lone shooter and released photographs of the
alleged shooter. All campus activities were canceled for the upcoming forty eight hours and
people were ordered to avoid the campus until the shooter was located, which didn't
take long. At eleven thirty five p m, Matt was found off campus
and confronted by police. He wasn't going to be arrested, though, Matt
carried out his final act of terror by raising the gun one final time,
and he shot himself. Inside Matt's front pocket, a note was found,
and the notes seemed to indicate that Matt planned possible shootings at two other schools
in Ewing, New Jersey, which is where Matt still had family living.
Also located on his person in addition to the note and two firearms were eight
or nine loaded magazines and fifty rounds of loose ammunition. All local public schools
located near the MSU campus were closed the following day out of an abundance of
caution, although the shelter in place order was officially lifted at twelve thirty am
on Tuesday, February fourteenth. Almost immediately, worried and concerned parents began pouring
onto the campus, desperate to get their child as far from the scene as
possible. Even students who lived hours away were fleeing from the campus. By
early the following morning, Employees from the Sparrow Hospital located near the university rushed
to the scene to provide whatever assistance could be used. Several of the employees
weren't even scheduled to work, They just felt compelled to rush to save lives
no matter the circumstance. There were so many volunteers that some had to be
turned away. I've injured students were rushed to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, and
four of the five required immediate surgery. One victim was rushed to the ICU.
Although all five were listed as being in critical condition. By February twenty
first, one of the victims was upgraded from critical to stable condition, while
two others were upgraded to serious from critical. The injured students included Guadalupe Huapierre
Perez, a junior from Immacaali, Florida, two Chinese international students, including
John Howe, who is currently paralyzed from the chest down. Nate Statley and
Troy four Bush. Nate Statley was from Heartland, Michigan, and his family
released a statement on February twenty seventh stating that Nate remained in critical condition in
the Nearrow ICU suffering from a severe head trauma. The family released another date
on March fourteenth, saying there was very little progress and few developments. On
April twenty sixth, Nate celebrated his twenty first birthday, which was about three
weeks after he was discharged from Sparrow Hospital and transferred to another facility for ongoing
long term care. A go fund Me was established for Nate and has raised
over three hundred thousand dollars at the time of this writing. On February twenty
third, injured student Troy four Bush was released from the hospital. Two other
injured students were released on March third, twenty twenty three. Michigan State University
has indicated that the school will be covering the cost of all medical care for
each of the injured students, a burden that has surely helped relieve these families.
Matt was born in Bare Delaware on June tenth nineteen seventy nine, but
was raised in Trenton, New Jersey, until two thousand and three, when
he moved to Lansing, Michigan with his parents. The family was religious,
and Matt regularly attended church growing up. At the time of the shooting,
he was living at home with his dad in a small red house at the
dead end of a residential street. There was a chain link gait in front
of the driveway bearing signs that read no parking and Beware of dog, and
the yard was overgrown with trash and other miscellaneous items strewn about. Matt's father
said that he raised his son Wright, musing that he was a great kid
who must have been influenced by the devil. It was the only reason he
could fathom why his child would commit such a heinous act. The morning of
the shooting, Matt briefly spoke with his dad, albeit through a closed bedroom
door, and said he'd be out looking for a job that day, and
that was the extent of their conversation. The last time Matt's dad physically laid
eyes on his son was the day before, when his dad made spaghetti for
dinner. Matt was actually in a good mood that day and even mentioned to
his dad that they should go fishing sometime soon. Matt's dad expressed his desire
for Matt to begin attending church services regularly, although it's unclear precisely how that
part of the conversation ended. On September thirteenth, twenty twenty, Matt's mom
passed away after suffering a massive stroke. After her death, Matt began to
withdraw from the world and became something of a recluse. His dad describes Matt
as having gone into his own world after losing his mother and struggling to accept
the reality of her loss. Matt stopped going to work and took to spending
hours on end in his bedroom playing arcade games. Matt refused to allow his
father into the room, and the only time he seemed to come out was
to get something from the kitchen or to use the bathroom. Around the same
time Matt lost his mother, he broke up with his girlfriend, and he
probably very much felt like his entire world had imploded. An uncle suggested that
perhaps Matt was schizophrenic, though he hadn't ever been formally diagnosed as such.
Matt's father vehemently denied the claim saying his son wasn't crazy, which is precisely
the type of attitude that may prevent someone with mental illness from seeking or maintaining
the proper treatment. That type of thinking perpetuates the stigma surrounding mental illness and
is incredibly dangerous. Despite his refusal to acknowledge that his son may have serious
issues, Matt's father did admit that his son was grappling with his anger and
how to express himself without immediately becoming furious. His temper was quickly becoming hard
to ignore, and indeed, his father later stated that Matt started to get
evil and mean, and he didn't care about anything anymore. Matt was no
stranger to law enforcement. He'd had plenty of police contacts over the years.
Between two thousand and six and two thousand eight, Matt had faced four separate
charges of driving on a suspended license, all of which occurred in Lancing Proper
or within Eaton County. He had enough driving offenses that Matt actually lost his
driver's license privileges years before the shooting. Lansing is a pretty walkable city with
plenty of public transportation, so the lack of license didn't prevent Matt from doing
most anything he wanted. On June ninth, two, nineteen, Matt was
questioned by the Lansing Police Department after he was spotted near an abandoned building at
one thirty am. He was departing what was presumably a convenience store. Matt
was sitting on the back steps of the abandoned building smoking a cigarette when he
was approached by the LPD officer. There had recently been a string of burglaries
in the area, so the officers stopped to ask the young man a few
questions. He asked Matt if he had any weapons, to which Matt replied
that he did and further admitted that he didn't have a permit to carry a
concealed weapon. The officer asked to pat him down, and Matt agreed.
The officer located a semi automatic pistol in Matt's pants pocket, along with a
magazine for the gun in his front shirt pocket. He explained to the officer
that he just walked to the store to purchase cigarettes, and that in an
effort to ensure his own safety, he carried the firearm as protection, though
either didn't or couldn't explain why if he was so concerned about his safety he
would stop at an abandoned building for a smoke when he simply could have returned
to the safety of his own home. Matt was arrested and eventually pled guilty
to a lesser charge possession of a loaded gun in a vehicle, which is
a misdemeanor in Ingham County, where the offense occurred. The felony he was
charged with carrying a concealed weapon was dismissed. Matt never served any jail time
for the offense and was sentenced on October twenty fourth, twenty nineteen, to
twelve months probation. His probation was amended in October of twenty twenty and then
again in April of twenty twenty one. The reason for the amendment is that
Matt needed additional time to complete the terms and conditions of his probation, which
included attending and completing cognitive based therapy and time for paying off his court costs
and fines. On May fourteenth, twenty twenty one, Matt was discharged from
probation. During the probation period, he never failed a drug screen or had
any other issues that would cause a violation, despite being a model probationer.
He had no other violent criminal history. The light sentence would later prove to
be problematic. You see, had Matt been convicted of the more serious charge,
he would have been prohibited from possessing a firearm. After the arrest in
twenty nineteen, Matt lied to his dad about having a gun in the house
and about shooting said gun in the backyard. His dad claims that he was
aware Matt purchased a gun sometime after he was arrested, but he wouldn't show
the weapon to his father and claimed it wasn't brought into the house. On
one occasion, Matt was shooting the gun outside in the backyard, and when
asked about it later, he told his father that he was just lighting on
the firecrackers, even though bullet casings were clearly visible in the backyard. He
allegedly told Matt to get rid of the gun, but Matt continued to lie
about having done so. Whether his father was naive or simply chose to believe
his son's lies, we may never know. Matt had at least one sister,
and she reportedly was beyond shocked that her sibling could cause so much harm.
She truly didn't believe he was capable of that level of violence, though
his actions clearly showed otherwise. Matt's sister helped to shed some light on his
past, and while it certainly cannot explain away or condone his actions, it
may help to explain who Matt was. She claimed that Matt was frequently at
odds with their parents and had been detached from having any type of social interaction.
She continued to explain that their home life was free from violence and was
rather affectionate. However, she also admitted that her brother frequently had outbursts of
anger, particularly towards their mother. After her death, Matt often expressed great
regret for the treatment of his mother, and he deeply struggled with self forgiveness.
His sister said that Matt became despondent and started drifting quite literally from one
state to another, living a transient lifestyle in and out of shelters, and
the last time she had even laid eyes on her brother was at their mom's
funeral in twenty twenty, and as such she really hadn't understood the depth of
her brother's issues. For his part, Matt's dad reported that his son later
became solitary, bitter, end evil, angry. He stopped caring about his
appearance and neglected his personal hygiene to the point that some of his teeth began
falling out, and he even quit cutting his hair. Matt had few,
if any friends, and even since the shooting, no one has come forward
to claim to have knowledge of or any ties to him. His neighbors didn't
know him, he rarely spoke with any of them. He seemed to carry
a grudge against a number of different businesses, as evidenced by the list he
carried in his pocket, which detailed the places where Matt felt that he'd been
done wrong or decided some infraction existed, and those businesses appeared to be some
kind of target. Because of his lack of a driver's license, Matt mainly
rode a bicycle everywhere. An employee at a nearby convenience store said Matt showed
up every week to buy cigarettes but never said a word during the transaction.
His unhappiness was palpable, and his dad would later say that he encouraged his
son to get help, but he would just reply, I'm okay, Dad.
He clearly wasn't okay and was equally as clearly unwilling to do anything about
it. Matt had been working a warehouse job about six months prior to the
shooting, but he simply stopped going into work one day and was subsequently fired.
He worked at the warehouse loading refrigerators into trucks for at least seven years
before he stopped going in. He'd be an in and out of various odd
jobs since then, but nothing that's stuck. It's unclear whether anyone was worried
or concerned about a long standing employee who went through some pretty heavy life changes
before suddenly ghosting the job he worked at for so many years. It seems
like red flag behavior that someone might think to look into. Both of the
weapons that Matt used were legally purchased, and he'd passed all of the required
background checks. After the shooting, Matt's father reported that approximately thirty officers raided
his home, tearing it apart as they searched for evidence. A two page
note was located inside of Matt's wallet, and the contents of the note contained
threats of violence at a number of different locations, and Matt claimed to be
working with twenty accomplices, which was later proven to be patently false. We
can confirm that the shooter had two handguns on his person when he was located.
He also had additional magazines and ammunition on his person. Our investigative team
did work with our federal ATF partners to trace those weapons and we have learned
that they were purchased legally by the shooter, but they were not registered.
We can also confirm that a note was found on the shooter. The Mischi
In State University Union Building reopened on April third. However, the union's food
court will remain closed. It was noted that the MSU Union is an essential
resource for the community. The first floor lounges, the mini market, and
computer labs were all reopened inside of the union, and therapy dogs were brought
in the day of the reopening. No classes were held in the MSU Union
Building for the balance of the school year, and Burkey Hall was also closed
for the twenty twenty three school year. Classrooms and offices inside Burkey Hall were
relocated and two weeks after the shooting, the university announced that new safety measures
were to be implemented in the coming weeks, including more security cameras, stricter
keycard access, and more door locks that were added to thirteen hundred classrooms across
the campus. Just as a special note, the Active Shooter Podcast is rapidly
approaching a May your milestone for any podcast our one hundredth episode. With that
in mind, our next case will be the shooting at the Paulse Nightclub,
which will be a three part series that brings us into the one hundredth episode.
We sincerely thank and appreciate each and every listener. We all have the
unique ability to help prevent such a catastrophic event from happening if we keep our
eyes and ears open and never hesitate to report when something or someone just doesn't
seem right. With the delicate balance of mental health reform, education, active
shooter training, and common sense gun laws, we may one day realize the
dream, the dream that there will be no more active shootings. We pray
that love will prevail over hate. In the meantime, we urge our listeners
to stay aware of your surroundings and keep in touch with your loved ones.
If you see something, say something, you never know how many lives you'll
be saving. Thank you for listening to today's episode of Active Shooter the podcast.
Remember if you see something, Say something. There's no telling how many
lives you may be saving. A big thank you to Darren Curtis, who
composed some of the songs on our show. You can find him online at
www dot Darren Curtis music dot com. Make sure to check us out on
social media. You can find us on Facebook at Active Shooter the Podcast and
on Twitter at podcast Active. Thank you and be safe.