The suspect who fatally shot three students at Michigan State University on Monday night, before apparently turning the gun on himself, was described by those who knew him as a former church-goer who once spoke of “trying to turn his life around” before he changed drastically in the wake of his mom’s death.
Anthony McRae, 43, grew increasingly bitter and isolated after his mother’s death from a stroke in September 2020, his father, Michael McRae, told NBC News. “He was grieving his mom. He wouldn’t let it go. He got bitter, bitter and bitter. His mom died, and he just started getting evil and mean. He didn’t care about anything anymore.”
McRae, who killed himself as cops closed in, was identified publicly by authorities at a news conference Tuesday morning. Five other students remained in critical condition after the alleged rampage at the campus in East Lansing.
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Police said McRae had no apparent connection to the university, and that his motive remains unclear. A note found on him after he died contained threats to Ewing High School and Fisher Middle School—two New Jersey schools in an area he previously resided, according to New Jersey police.
McRae’s father said his son, who quit a warehouse job after his mom’s death, may have been trying to apply for a job at MSU.
Gregory DeMyers, who worked alongside 43-year-old McRae at a Meijer grocery store warehouse in Lansing, told The Daily Beast that he also attended church with the suspected shooter.
He said he didn’t recall specific testimony by McRae in which he explained his troubles in detail, but that he had alluded to past issues.
“I do remember him saying that God saved him from the life he had,” DeMyers said on Tuesday. “I don’t remember what he dealt with back in the day. But he definitely was trying to turn his life around at the time, and this definitely is weird.”
DeMyers said McRae joined his congregation around 2000, and was a gregarious and inquisitive person who often seemed “confounded at certain things we would talk about.”
“He would give a look, like, ‘Huh?’ I had to break stuff down to him.”
The two often carpooled together, and DeMyers insisted there was nothing about McRae he would have considered a red flag.
At work, McRae “just tried to do his job, and go home,” according to DeMyers, who said McRae had an easy smile.
That McRae turned out to be the person authorities say was behind Monday’s mass shooting is nothing short of surreal, said DeMyers, who hadn’t seen his former friend in some 15 years but still immediately picked up on his distinctive gait when he saw footage circulating on TV.
“I recognized him right away,” he said. “I seen the walk, but you’re like, ‘That can’t be him.’ But the walk—it’s a unique walk that I will never forget. And with him being short in stature, and then I seen the walk, I’m like, ‘He’s walking like Anthony McRae.’ But I never would’ve thought it was him, it’s blowing everybody’s mind.”
But things took a dark turn several years after DeMyers and McRae fell out of touch, according to McRae’s father. He described his son in an interview with NBC News as “a good kid,” then adding, “But you never know what your kid will do when they walk out the door.”
McRae was arrested and charged in 2019 for possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle. Chris Gautz, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections, told the Detroit Free Press McRae was caught by officers with a Ruger LCP .380 semi-automatic pistol in his pocket. He was sentenced to probation in late 2019 and was “successfully discharged” in May 2021, Gautz said.
McRae’s attorney from that case did not immediately return a request for comment from The Daily Beast.
McRae’s uncle said on Tuesday he was wary about saying anything because he is a business owner and does not want his brand to be associated with the unthinkable carnage at MSU.
“Unfortunately, in this day and age we live in a cancel culture and I can’t afford for my livelihood to be mired by the actions of a family member with mental issues,” Tim McRae told The Daily Beast, noting that he hadn’t spoken to his nephew in a decade-and-a-half. “Our family is shaken to the core upon learning about these events and our hearts go out to the people who lost their lives.”
Neighbors had recently complained of McRae firing a gun outside the home he shared with his father, NBC reported.
Before hanging up with The Daily Beast, DeMyers, who also performs as a gospel singer and works as a photographer, said he’s simply left shaking his head.
“I can’t believe I know the guy that did all this,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Oh my God, how is this even possible?’”
