Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/tag/spartan-strong/page/2/)
Commentary and reporting related to Feb. 13, 2023, at Michigan State University from the journalists of the Spartan Newsroom.
After the Feb. 13 Michigan State University shooting, East Lansing High School teachers and students wanted to do something to help the community. On Feb. 18 during the ELHS floor hockey tournament, teachers and students set up a table with cut-out hearts and signs for students to fill out.
Run. Hide. Fight. On Feb. 13 around 8:30 p.m., a Michigan State University alert instructed myself and my three roommates, along with nearly 50,000 other MSU students, to take any of these measures in response to the reports of “shots fired” on campus. Over the next four hours, as an armed individual injured five students and took the lives of three others, my roommates and I were separated, experiencing one traumatic event in three entirely different environments and conditions.
On the night of Feb. 13, the lives of thousands of students, parents and employees changed, including mine. Unfortunately, this is the 67th mass shooting to happen in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, but I never thought it would happen at Michigan State University.
Michigan State University temporarily suspended classes in the week following the mass shooting that took place on campus on Feb. 13, which killed three students and critically injured five more. As the community continues to mourn, students and staff are adjusting back into their classrooms.
Though I could have never imagined the pain and fear inflicted on a campus I love so dearly, Michigan State will be remembered for the amount of strength and compassion we showed during our most difficult moments.
“I want there to be a strong MSU community forever. I want MSU to always be such a pillar in our state and in the national view,” Pipe said. “I want people to look up to MSU.”
A picture of the inside of my house the morning after the shooting. “That’s a lot of cop cars racing towards downtown. Something really f****ed up must be happening.”
Those were the exact words that I muttered to myself as I watched four cop cars race down Albert St toward downtown East Lansing. I happened to be out at my car as they whizzed past, taking a baggy full of gift cards out of my car so that I could order food.
I went back inside and forgot about the whole thing for a minute as I scrolled through DoorDash attempting to find the perfect meal. After a few unsuccessful minutes, I decided to step outside and get some fresh air to see if that would help.
The day I experienced on Feb. 13 is one I will never forget for the rest of my life. I had just returned back to the house I am staying at, sat down to eat when I heard sirens coming from East Grand River Avenue . At first, I did not think anything of it other than someone getting pulled over.
Michigan State student Ethan Hunter tells about what happened and how he and other students reacted when word went out abut the violence on campus on Feb. 13.
The violence on Michigan State’s campus on Feb. 13 prompted many in the Lansing community to support Michigan State students. “Spartan Strong” posters, signs in store windows, and thousands upon thousands of flowers brightened the usually dreary mid-February campus. The university’s more than 50,000 students realized that there are hundreds of thousands more who care deeply for them, and wanted to express that in even the smallest of ways.
In the Communication Arts and Sciences building on campus, splashes of color in children’s artwork brightened the halls.
The aftermath of the shooting Feb. 13 left students with different viewpoints on how soon to return to campus.