EAST LANSING, Mich. — They came to pray and to support each other through the grief that follows violence. Thousands of mourners crowded outside the Michigan State University Auditorium on Wednesday night to honor the victims of Monday's mass campus shooting.
Braden Hanks, a 2021 MSU graduate, stood alone in the crowd before the vigil began. He was there, he said, because it was his civic duty to return to campus and join the gathering. As others gathered Wednesday night in Clawson and in Grosse Pointe Farms to remember victims in their hometowns, MSU students there said they sought similar solace in the crowd on campus and among friends and family.
Standing on campus, where yellow tape still blocks off areas where the deadly shooting took place, magnified for Hanks the reality of gun violence.
“(There is) never going to truly be justice, but I’m glad we’re at least able to gather in this sort of way,” said Hanks, warning shootings will continue if nothing changes. “It’s meant a lot to be here and see this.”
Many of those gathered in the somber crowd held flowers and candles, embraced, kneeled in silence and watched tearfully as state and university leaders took turns offering support and denouncing gun violence.
“We really, really love this place. You can see it in how we treat each other and how we show up for one another,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told the crowd. “I think that’s what makes this moment so much more painful. Our Spartan community is reeling this week and our hearts break for those lives that were shattered by gun violence.”
Whitmer, an MSU graduate, shared her sadness of the university becoming the latest to join an unwanted fraternity of shooting sites in the country. The violence is part of a “uniquely American problem,” she said, promising to take action against it.
She spoke as part of a university-organized vigil to recognize the victims and nurture the campus community through the early stages of healing.
Just two days before the vigil, the campus had been under siege as a gunman roamed, shooting students in nearby Berkey Hall and the student union. Police put the area under a shelter-in-place order for hours until the suspected gunman was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Alexandria Verner, 20, of Clawson; Arielle Anderson, 19, of Harper Woods; and Brian Fraser, 20, of Grosse Pointe, were killed. Five students remain hospitalized in critical condition, including Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez.
Other speakers at the campus event Wednesday night included Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, MSU Board of Trustees Chair Rema Vassar, interim university president Teresa Woodruff, basketball coach Tom Izzo and student leaders, musicians and religious leaders. They repeated the names of the victims and promised to help prevent further violence.
"We all have a platform. Some are small, some are high, but we all have a platform," Izzo said. "I hope each and every one of you use your platform to help others, so other families don't have to go through what these families have gone through."
Izzo encouraged the grieving students not to hide their emotions and instead reach out to each other for support.
For proof, look around, he told the crowd.
“We’re here for different reasons,” Izzo said. “To heal, to grieve, to honor our victims, to stand up to fear, which you’re going to have to do a lot in your life. Whatever you’re feeling, it’s all valid.”
Lisa Jackson was buoyed by the size of the crowd gathered for the vigil, even as she was heartsick at the violence and the terror the students encountered Monday.
Jackson, of Lansing, is an alumna with deep ties to the university. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha and volunteered to distribute snacks at the vigil, wearing her signature AKA hat and gold Sparty necklace.
She said she is determined to make sure violence doesn't win out over the Spartan community.
“Yes, I was heartbroken, but then I became resolute,” she said. “I said, ‘Let’s go, let’s ensure this doesn’t happen again.' We’re not going to let anyone win who behaves like that. We will come back, we’ll still show up. We’re here today.”
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