Graham Anderson
Local police positioned outside the Union, as viewed from inside Raising Cane’s.EAST LANSING, Mich. — On the night of Monday, Feb. 13, I had just gotten out of a late class at Michigan State University and stopped at Raising Cane’s on Grand River Avenue. The plan was to get a bite to eat before going home and talking to some of my friends on the phone back in Chicago. Instead, I spent the next four hours in the dark restaurant, peering out the window.
I had been at the restaurant for only about half an hour when a group of four girls ran into the restaurant, each of them in tears. They showed the kind of visible distress that immediately alerted me that something was horribly wrong. It was clear to everyone in the restaurant that something terrible had happened, but the worst was confirmed when one exclaimed that there was a shooter in the Union, the student dining and study hall directly across the street.
I looked out the front window and saw at least 10 police cars across Grand River, as well as on the other side of the Union. The feeling of unease in the restaurant turned to fear. The doors were locked and the lights were shut off. What followed is what I can only describe as the most surreal and unnerving evening of my life.
The first hour of the ordeal was filled with a mixture of fear and uncertainty. In one corner of the restaurant, a student listened to the police scanner. In another, a woman sat with her two daughters, while on the phone with emergency services. All the while I and a few other students scrolled through social media, trying to find out exactly what was going on. Throughout the night, posts came out from all corners of social media saying that there had been shootings at several buildings across campus – most of which thankfully turned out to be false – which only heightened confusion and fear that swept over all who were present.
Fear eventually gave way to fatigue as I sat in the restaurant for hours waiting for news that the shooter had been located, which turned to relief four hours later when we were told we could leave.
In the aftermath, so many questions filled my mind. How could this happen? What were the next few days going to look like? How am I going to return to campus and classes?
The next day, as many others did, I left East Lansing. I spent a night with my girlfriend’s family in Holland, Michigan, and then made the drive to Chicago to visit my own family. When I came back to campus after three days away, I saw a completely transformed collective mindset in East Lansing.
On Spartan Sunday, a student and parent-run event which was meant to welcome students back to campus, I found an outpouring of positivity from so many people. Local businesses had shown up to give out food. Parents were there to give emotional support to those who needed it. There was a table for painting rocks with messages of support, and the humane society brought therapy dogs. Everyone surrounded the Spartan Statue, which had been turned into a memorial for those who had been killed or injured in the shooting. I was thankful that the community in East Lansing had been so positive, yet sad that it had come at the cost of such a tragedy.
When classes resumed, it was a much different story. Being back on a campus which had endured such a horrific event was uneasy to say the least. I was thankful that all my professors and classmates had been helpful in smoothing the transition back to normalcy, but I suspect that it will not feel quite normal for some time. Personally, I have not been back to Raising Cane’s since the event, but some employees who worked that night now find it hard to return.
“Whenever I’m up front, if someone opens the door too quickly, or if someone drops something, everyone looks directly at the noise and there’s always a silence that falls over everyone for a second,” said Andrea Lawson, who was working as a cashier the night of the shooting. “Everyone’s sort of jumpy now.”
It is clear that the community on this campus has a long way to go before things can seem normal again. A week after the event, classes resumed and normal routines have picked up again, yet it can’t be denied that the feeling of ambient unease is palpable among students and faculty alike.
What is also clear is that positivity is everywhere across the East Lansing community after this tragedy. Anywhere I go, I am met with messages of kindness written on the walls or sidewalks, and people eager to reach out a helping hand. It is impossible to exist in this community right now and not feel at least a little uplifted.
The mood on campus right now is very much one of mourning, but the character of this community tells me it will not be that way forever.