MSU ‘schizophrenic’ got gun back
The uncle of Michigan State University gunman Anthony McRae questioned Wednesday why his mentally ill nephew was free to carry out the mass shooting despite his recent arrest on weapons charges.
“[Anthony had] mental issues, obviously,” Timothy McRae told The Post Wednesday, adding he thought authorities should have dealt with his 43-year-old nephew after a 2019 incident when police caught him with a concealed, loaded handgun, leading to a felony charge.
“When they had him in possession of a weapon, they should have given him jail time. Maybe they could have evaluated him then.
“They put him back on the street knowing that he was able to carry a weapon. I mean, how smart is that?”
Former warehouse worker Anthony McRae — who went on to shoot eight students in two MSU buildings Monday before apparently taking his own life — in 2019 agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge and the felony rap was dropped as part of the deal with the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office.
The lesser offense does not prohibit gun ownership and McRae reportedly bought another gun years after the arrest, his father told The Washington Post.
“Mr. McRae would have been barred from legally purchasing, owning or possessing a firearm if he would have been convicted of [a concealed-weapons] charge,” Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane told the Detroit Free Press.
“The misdemeanor conviction did not prevent him from purchasing, owning or possessing a firearm after he successfully completed his terms of probation,” which McRae did in 2021.
Former Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon, whose office lowered the charges to a misdemeanor, had been criticized for being soft on crime.
Siemon, a Democrat who retired at the start of the year, faced backlash from local elected officials for changing her office’s policy in 2021 regarding sentencing for people who commit crimes while carrying a firearm, whether it’s used or not. The policy had carried an automatic two-year sentence, which Siemon said worsened racial disparities, Fox47 TV reported at the time.
Timothy McRae said Anthony’s family struggled to find him adequate help. It is unclear if he was ever medically diagnosed with mental health issues.
He added: “We are sorry for the loss of life, but at the same time, mental illness is real. When the cops come in contact with people who shouldn’t have firearms and they have a chance to evaluate them, they should evaluate them instead of giving them probation and putting them back on the street.
“[They] caught someone with a firearm who [seemed] unstable — that should have been obvious,” he reasoned.
Neighbors reported Anthony had been firing his gun in the family’s backyard after completing his 18 months’ probation on the firearms charge in May 2021.
The three victims who died in Anthony’s rampage have been ID’d as Brian Fraser, Arielle Diamond
Anderson and Alexandria Verner. Five others remain hospitalized in critical condition.
The killer’s father, Michael McRae, had told NBC News his son turned “evil” in the wake of Anthony’s mother’s death in 2020 and refused to leave his room or talk with him.
In a conversation with News8, Timothy McRae agreed with his brother’s assessment.
“The death of a mother is going to send any kid into a spiral, especially if you’re already depressed and schizophrenic, so you can only imagine,” he said.