Survivor says she ‘will never forget the screams’

Survivors of the mass shooting at Michigan State University recounted the deadly attack in agonizing detail Tuesday, describing a seemingly normal night on campus that turned into a nightmare.

Students attending a Cuban history class Monday recalled hearing gunshots around 8:15 p.m. local time. The rampage left three people dead and five others wounded.

“I dropped to the floor with all my classmates,” sophomore Claire Papoulias said on NBC’s “Today” show. “Someone was yelling that there was a shooter and everybody needed to get down on the ground, and at that moment I thought that I was going to die.”

Papoulias says she heard students yelling for help from the back of the classroom. Others jumped into action, opening a window that students climbed out of, she said.

“I will never forget the screams of my classmates. They were screaming in pain for help,” said Papoulias, adding she ran for her life after escaping through the window.

Senior Dominik Molotky heard a gunshot in the hallway before the gunman entered the classroom and “let off three to four more rounds,” he told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“I was sitting next to the nearest door, and thank God that my fight-or-flight response kicked in, because right when that first gunshot went off, I booked it to the far corner of the class,” Molotky said.

Molotky said two other students broke open a window, through which he escaped and sprinted to his apartment.

“I’m not too sure, but I think one of the students in my class got hit with a shot,” he said. “I pray that no more did.”

Authorities identified the suspect as Anthony McRae, 43, and say he fatally shot himself after a police manhunt. McRae wasn’t a student or employee at the university in East Lansing, Mich., cops said. Investigators have not determined a motive.

All three victims killed in the shooting were MSU students, as are the five wounded victims.