A gunman who opened fire at Michigan State University in East Lansing, killed three people and wounded five, setting off an hourslong manhunt as frightened students hid in classrooms and cars. The shooter fatally shot himself after police confronted him miles from the campus, officials said. 

At a Tuesday morning news conference, police identified the gunman as Anthony McRae, 43.

Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief with Michigan State University Police and Public Safety, said police confronted McRae around 11:35 p.m. at an industrial area in Lansing, about 5 miles away from the shootings. McRae then died by a "self-inflicted gunshot wound," Rozman said.

A caller’s tip led officers to the suspect after police released a photo from campus security cameras, the deputy chief said. The gunman was tracked down just 17 minutes after the release of the photos, authorities said.

Rozman said investigators “have absolutely no idea what the motive was at this point.” McRae was never a student or employee at the university, Rozman said. Police said they recovered at least one weapon but did not provide details.

University police confirmed a note was found with McRae and was being investigated. They did not share the contents of the note.

However, a school district in Ewing Township, New Jersey, closed for the day after being informed that McRae, who lived in the area years ago, had a note in his pocket indicating a threat to two schools there. But it was determined there was no credible threat, local police said later in a statement shared publicly by the superintendent.

McRae was on probation for 18 months until May 2021 for possessing a loaded gun in a vehicle, according to the state Michigan Corrections Department.

The mass shooting began around 8:30 p.m. Monday at an academic building and later moved to the nearby student union, a popular gathering spot for students to eat or study. As hundreds of officers scoured the East Lansing campus, about 90 miles northwest of Detroit, students hid where they could. 

All eight people who were wounded were students, authorities said. Two of those killed were shot in the academic building, Berkey Hall, police said; the other was inside the student union.

Officials identified the victims as Brian Fraser, a sophomore from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Alexandria Verner, a junior from Clawson, Michigan, and Arielle Anderson, a junior from Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

M. Jon Dean, superintendent of the Grosse Pointe Public School System, wrote in a letter to parents that two of the deceased were recent high school graduates there. That would include Fraser and the unnamed student. 

“Earlier this morning I learned that both Grosse Pointe North and South [high schools] each have a recent graduate that died from their injuries last night at MSU,” he wrote. “I can’t even process what I just wrote. How can we have our community impacted in this personal way?”

Clawson Superintendent Billy Shellenbarger said in an email to families of Verner: “If you knew her, you loved her and we will forever remember the lasting impact she has had on all of us.”

Dr. Denny Martin, interim president and chief medical officer at Sparrow Hospital, said four of the five who survived underwent surgery. All five were in critical condition Tuesday.

“It was a sad but very proud moment for all of us here,” Martin said, breaking down in tears during the news conference as he applauded the medical staff for its efforts.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer noted the shooting came hours before the fifth anniversary of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting that left 17 dead and on the heels of other mass shootings in Monterey Park, California, and Uvalde, Texas.

“We're all broken by an all-too-familiar feeling,” Whitmer said. “Another place that is supposed to be about community and togetherness shattered by bullets and bloodshed. We know this is a uniquely American problem.

“We cannot keep living like this,” she added. “Our children are scared to go to school. People feel unsafe in their houses of worship or local stores.”

Whitmer said she spoke with President Joe Biden on Monday night, which Biden later confirmed in a statement. 

The president said he and first lady Jill Biden are praying for the students who were killed and wounded. 

“Our hearts are with these young victims and their families, the broader East Lansing and Lansing communities, and all Americans across the country grieving as the result of gun violence,” Biden said.

Biden said he directed federal law enforcement to support local and state response efforts.

At an event in Washington later Tuesday, the president said mass shootings are "happening far too often in this country. Far too often. While we gather more information, there's one thing we do know to be true: We have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities."

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said she found it “haunting” when she saw on television coverage about the shooting “a younger person wearing an ‘Oxford Strong’ sweatshirt.” The sweatshirts were distributed after a teenage shooter killed four students and wounded seven others at Oxford High School in Michigan in November 2021.

"I am filled with rage that we have to have another press conference to talk about our children being killed in their schools," she said.

“We have children in Michigan who are living through their second school shooting in under a year and a half,” said Slotkin, who represents both Oxford and East Lansing. “If this is not a wake-up call to do something, I don't know what is.”

“You either care about protecting kids, or you don’t," Slotkin said, adding: “Please don’t tell me you care about the safety of children if you're not willing to have a conversation about keeping them safe in a place that should be a sanctuary.”

Ryan Kunkel, 22, was attending a class in the Engineering Building when he became aware of the shooting from a university email. Kunkel and about 13 other students turned off the lights and acted like there "was a shooter right outside the door," he said.

“Nothing came out of anyone's mouth” for over four hours, he said.

“I wasn't ready to accept that this is really going on next door,” Kunkel said. “This is supposed to be a place where I'm coming, learning and bettering myself. And instead, students are getting hurt.”

Ted Zimbo said he was walking to his residence hall when he encountered a woman with a “ton of blood on her.”

“She told me, 'Someone came in our classroom and started shooting,’” Zimbo told The Associated Press. "Her hands were completely covered in blood. It was on her pants and her shoes. She said, ‘It's my friend's blood.’”

Zimbo said the woman left to find a friend's car while he returned to his SUV and threw a blanket over himself to hide for three hours.

During the manhunt, WDIV-TV meteorologist Kim Adams, whose daughter attends Michigan State, told viewers that students were worn down by the hourslong saga.

"They've been hiding, all the lights off in a dark room," Adams said.

Aedan Kelley, a junior who lives a half-mile east of campus, said he locked his doors and covered his windows "just in case." Sirens were constant, and a helicopter hovered overhead.

"It's all very frightening," Kelley said. "And then I have all these people texting me wondering if I'm OK, which is overwhelming."

Michigan State has about 50,000 students, including 19,000 who live on campus. All classes, sports and other activities were canceled for 48 hours, when only essential personnel are working. 

“Our Spartan hearts are broken,” Michigan State interim President Teresa Woodruff said Tuesday. “We’re grieving, but as a community we’re grieving together. We struggle to comprehend. We lost families, friends, classmates, and our hearts go out to the victims and families of this senseless tragedy.”

A large police presence was in McRae’s Lansing neighborhood overnight. Suzanne Shook said she has lived a block away from McRae for about a year.

"We never spoke to him,” Shook said. "When he would be walking or riding his bike, he was always straightforward and wouldn’t look at anybody.”

Spectrum News' Austin Landis contributed to this report.