State shooter’s note says he felt hated, rejected

A man who fatally shot three students and wounded five others on the Michigan State University campus left a note describing himself as being “hated,” “a loner” and an “outcast.”

Anthony Mcrae, 43, also wrote “I’m tired of being rejected,” in the note, which was dated the day before the Feb. 13 shooting and released Friday by police.

“They made me who I’m am today a killer,” the note read. “I’m a person,” and “They hate me why? why? why? why?”

Mcrae, who lived in nearby Lansing, had no apparent connection to the East Lansing school. The rampage began about 8 p.m. on Feb. 13 when shots were fired inside a classroom at Berkey Hall on the north end of campus. Police believe Mcrae then walked into the nearby student union building firing more shots.

Students were ordered to shelter in place for four hours and — “run, hide, fight” — if necessary as the campus was placed on an hourslong lockdown.

Police put a photo of Mcrae on social media at 11:18 p.m. A 911 call was received 17 minutes from someone who saw a person matching Mcrae’s description in Lansing.

Mcrae shot himself in an industrial area about 4 miles from campus at 11:49 p.m. when approached by officers.

Detectives also found two handguns and ammunition. The note was found in his pocket.

“There’s a group of us, 20 of us and I’m the leader,” also was written on it. “I will be shooting up MSU and some of the other groups will be going to Colorado Springs to shoot up (redacted). Another team of ... group will be going to New Jersey and they will shoot up (redacted) High school and (redacted) Middle school. They hurted me”

Mcrae’s claim to be acting with others is unfounded,” authorities said Friday.

“Comprehensive reviews and detailed follow-up” shows that “Mcrae acted alone and was not working with other people,” authorities said.

Police initially said it appeared from the note that Mcrae felt he had been slighted in some way by people or businesses, adding that he had no connection to the victims or the school and had worked at a grocery chain warehouse.

Police said Friday that their investigation continues. Mcrae’s route once he left the campus still is being reviewed.

About 1,450 911 calls were made to the county’s dispatch center from the start of the shooting to 1 a.m. Feb. 15, police said. It wasn’t clear how many of the calls were related to the shooting.

Killed were Arielle Anderson, 19; Brian Fraser, 20; and Alexandria Verner, 20, all of suburban Detroit.

Michigan State has said that starting Monday access to most buildings on campus will be restricted at night.

Students, faculty and staff will need to use campus ID cards to get electronic access at buildings, between 6 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. on weekdays. The school said it wants to make it possible to lock 1,300 classrooms from the inside by the fall semester.

The campus is about about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.

The shooting happened the day before the fifth anniversary of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting that killed 17.

A gunman stormed a service at his former Jehovah’s Witness hall in Germany, killing six people before taking his own life after police arrived, authorities in the port city of Hamburg said Friday.

Police gave no motive for Thursday night’s attack. But they acknowledged recently receiving an anonymous tip that claimed the man identified as the shooter showed anger toward Jehovah’s Witnesses and might be psychologically unfit to own a gun.

Eight people were wounded, including a woman who was 28 weeks pregnant and lost the baby. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the death toll could rise.

Officers apparently arrived at the hall while the attack was ongoing and heard one more shot, according to witnesses and authorities. They did not fire their weapons, but officials said their intervention likely prevented further loss of life at the boxy building next to an auto repair shop a few kilometers (miles) from downtown.

Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, said the city was “speechless in view of this violence” and “mourning those whose lives were taken so brutally.”

All of the victims were German citizens apart from two wounded women, one with Ugandan citizenship and one with Ukrainian.

Officials said the suspected assailant was a 35-year-old German man identified only as Philipp F., in line with the country’s privacy rules. Police said he had left the congregation “voluntarily, but apparently not on good terms,” about a year and a half ago.

A website registered in the name of someone who fits the police description says that he grew up in the Bavarian town of Kempten in “a strict religious evangelical household.”

The website, which is filled with business jargon, also links to a self-published book about “God, Jesus Christ and Satan.”

Philipp F. legally owned a semi-automatic Heckler & Koch Pistole P30 handgun, according to police. He fired more than 100 shots during the attack, and the head of the Hamburg prosecutors office, Ralf Peter Anders, said hundreds more rounds were found in a search of the man’s apartment.

Germany’s gun laws are more restrictive than those in the United States but permissive compared with some European neighbors, and shootings are not unheard of.

Last year, an 18-yearold man opened fire in a packed lecture at Heidelberg University, killing one person and wounding three others before killing himself. In 2020, the nation saw two high-profile shootings, one that killed six people and another that took nine lives.

In the most recent shooting involving a site of worship, a far-right extremist attempted to force his way into a synagogue in Halle on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur in 2019. After failing to gain entry, he shot two people to death nearby.

The German government announced plans last year to crack down on gun ownership by suspected extremists and to tighten background checks. Currently, anyone who wants to acquire a firearm must show that they are fit to do so, including by proving that they require a gun. Reasons can include being part of a sports shooting club or being a hunter.

Hamburg Police Chief Ralf Martin Meyer said the man was visited by officers after they received an anonymous tip in January, claiming that he had “particular anger toward religious believers, in particular toward Jehovah’s Witnesses and his former employer.”

Officers said the man was cooperative and found no grounds to take away his weapon, according to Meyer.