Shooting at Michigan State University brings US gun violence in the spotlight once again

Thousands of students at Michigan State University were ordered to shelter in place after shots were fired in a campus building in the early evening of Tuesday 13 February. The initial round of shooting left two dead. The gunman then fled to the students’ union, where he killed one more person. He then shot himself dead following a massive police manhunt.

The mass shooting incident sparked a major police operation as officers swarmed the 5,000-acre campus. Just after midnight, police confirmed the suspected gunman had shot himself dead a short distance away.

Some hospitalised with ‘life-threatening injuries’

Police reported three dead and five further people injured in the attack. Some of those injured are in hospital with “life-threatening injuries”, said deputy chief Chris Rozman of the university’s police department. However, police refused to give further details of the victims, including whether they were university students or faculty members.

Some on social media highlighted connections to the Oxford High School shooting. It happened on 30 November 2021, little more than an hour away from Michigan State University. Moreover, some of those present at Tuesday’s mass shooting appeared to also have been caught up in the Oxford High School shooting:

14 months ago I had to evacuate from Oxford High Schol when a fifteen year old opened fire and killed four of my classmates and injured seven more.

Tonight, I am sitting under my desk at Michigan State Univeristy, once again texting everyone “I love you”

When will this end?

— Emma Riddle (@egraceridd) February 14, 2023

https://twitter.com/sarahamichals/status/1625336942471659522

America, students who survived the shooting at Oxford High School 14 months and 2 weeks ago are going through their second mass shooting at Michigan State University tonight.

Let that sink in. Two mass shootings in 14 months.

We need change.
We deserve to grow old.

— No Future Without Today 🟧 (@nfw2day) February 14, 2023

Though they released few details about the shooter, police said:

The suspect in this incident was located outside of the MSU campus.

They also confirmed the shooter as dead from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound”.

Regular and widespread mass shootings

In January, 11 people were shot dead when an elderly man opened fire in a dance hall in California where locals were celebrating Lunar New Year. Days later, a farmworker killed seven colleagues a few hundred miles away. Many on social media have once again highlighted the scale of this gun violence across the US:

The Mass Shooting at Michigan State this evening was the 67th shooting where four or more people were injured or killed by gunfire this year.

Most current [1am] numbers for MSU – 3 killed, 5 injured, and the shooter died by self-inflicted gunshot wound.

— The Gun Violence Archive (@GunDeaths) February 14, 2023

“The shooting at Michigan State University on Monday was the United States’ 67th incident of gun violence in the first 44 days of 2023. . . More than 100 people have been killed in these incidents. . .” https://t.co/bE2VKKJX2a

— ⚖️🪴🇺🇦🌈🇮🇱 (@rogertansey) February 14, 2023

Tonight, it was Michigan State University. https://t.co/2AkRiglOwW

— eva rose (@evaciaramitaro) February 14, 2023

Gun violence is alarmingly common in the United States. Pew Research Centre said the Gun Violence Archive puts the number of deaths as a result of mass shootings in 2020 at 513.

There is frequently strong resistance from lobby groups such as the National Rifle Association (NRA) against attempts to clamp down on the spread of guns. As a result, tens of thousands of people die every year after being shot, and many more are wounded.

Featured image via the Independent/YouTube

Additional reporting Agence France-Presse