By Marlene Lenthang -
NBC News
The man who opened fire on the Michigan State University campus Monday night, killing three people and injuring five others, was found with two legally purchased guns, ammunition and a note threatening violence, authorities announced Wednesday. Thursday.
Anthony McRae, 43, was identified as the sole suspect in the shooting.
His motives for carrying out the massacre are still unknown, since the authorities claimed that he had no ties to the educational center and took his own life after the attack.
McRae was carrying two 9mm pistols, extra magazines and ammunition, Chris Rozman of the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety told a news conference.
Two young men lay flowers at Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan, on February 14, 2023, following a mass shooting on campus. Sylvia Jarrus for NBC News
An investigation with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined that the man legally acquired those weapons, but did not register them.
For now it is unknown where or when he bought them.
Authorities also confirmed they found a note about the shooter.
The three deceased, Michigan college students, were identified as 20-year-old Alexandria Verner and Brian Fraser and 19-year-old Arielle Anderson.
The injured, also students, were hospitalized at Lansing's EW Sparrow Hospital in critical condition.
One of them is in stable condition, MSU police said in a tweet Thursday.
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Their names have not been released.
However, the Chinese consulate in Chicago, Illinois, reported that two Chinese students were among the injured.
"After undergoing surgical treatment at the hospital, their lives are out of danger," he explained in a statement, noting that the families of the victims had already been contacted.
Final confrontation of the shooter and search of his residence
The authorities shared on Thursday a sequence of what the final confrontation with the attacker was like.
Detectives went to the location where the suspect was seen walking.
Two Lansing Police Department officers made contact with him, approximately 20 feet away, according to Michigan State Police Lt. René González.
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They got out of his vehicle and ordered him to show his hands.
“However, he pulled out a gun and committed suicide,” González said.
Body camera video from one of them showed McRae said nothing to officers.
The man used one of the two pistols he was carrying to commit suicide, the other was kept in a backpack.
He also had a "full to the brim" magazine in his left breast pocket, Gonzalez said.
In the backpack he also carried eight loaded magazines of 9mm ammunition, along with a pencil-sized pouch containing 50 loose rounds of 9mm ammunition.
There were also two empty magazines, according to González.
The lieutenant specified that two pages of notes were found in the suspect's wallet.
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"That was the note that indicated the place that he was going to visit and also a kind of indication of why, perhaps a reason, but nothing that we can confirm yet," González specified.
The investigation is ongoing, but McRae is believed to have acted alone, he said.
Michigan State Police did not share exactly what the found note said, but it threatened businesses, a church and a school district in New Jersey.
“Through our investigation, we discovered that he had contact with some of those places, he was an employee of the Meyer warehouse at one point.
And a couple of the other businesses, it seems he had some employee issues there where he was asked to leave.
So it seems that possibly one reason for this was that he felt slighted and that is more or less what the note indicated,” González said.
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A search warrant for McRae's residence was also obtained and a cell phone was collected, as well as "kind of diaries," various writings, and 9mm bullet casings, González said.
Gunman's history with police
Lansing Police Chief Ellery Sosebee detailed previous law enforcement encounters with the shooter.
The department had not responded to any wellness checks on the suspect.
The man reported a theft in 2005 and was fined in 2006 and 2007 for traffic offences.
In 2009 he was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, which is still in police custody, Sosebee said.
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Authorities acknowledged that McRae had a history of mental health problems, something that is part of the investigation.
“From the content of the note, it seems that he felt belittled in some way by people or companies.
Did the mental health issues amplify that or was it a component of it?
We're not sure right now," Rozman said.
"That's the question we're all asking ourselves and we're doing everything we can to figure it out as best we can."
Michigan State University suspended classes until Sunday.
Berkey Hall, where the shooting began, will remain closed for the remainder of the semester.
The condition of Union Hall, the shooter's next stop, is still being assessed, said interim university president Teresa K. Woodruff.