MSU shooting 911 calls offer emotional view of tragedy's first moments

Survivors cried out for help from the student union and classrooms in Berkey Hall at Michigan State University last month while providing emotional eyewitness reports in the moments after a gunman killed three people and wounded five others, according to 911 calls released Friday.

The series of 911 calls released by Ingham County Central Dispatch to The Detroit News and Bridge Michigan following public records requests offered a dramatic view of a campus shooting that has spurred calls for gun control in Michigan.

The calls capture the chaotic, confusing minutes in the immediate aftermath of the campus shooting as callers — some speaking in hushed tones while hiding, others gulping for air, others unable to speak — fielded questions from dispatchers trying to assess how many people were injured, determine if the callers were safe and pinpoint the shooter’s location.

The dispatch calls were released more than five weeks after the Feb. 13 shooting. One of the five originally wounded students remains hospitalized in critical condition while the others have been released.

“Please hurry up!” one caller told an Ingham County dispatcher. “Someone is literally bleeding in my face!”

"I don’t know," the female caller said. "I don’t know where they went."

"Did they go out of the room," the dispatcher said.

"Huh?" the caller said.

"Are they out of room 114?" the dispatcher said.

"Yes," the caller said.

Room 114 is where Marco Díaz-Muñoz, an assistant professor, was teaching roughly 40 students in an evening humanities class about Cuban cultural identity. Two of the students were killed in his classroom.

One caller who was also in room 114 at Berkey asked for help and reported multiple people were shot while tending to her wounded friend.

“I’m at Berkey Hall. My class was shot at,” the woman said. “One of my friends … he’s bleeding. He’s bleeding. Oh my gosh! He’s not breathing!”

Five students were injured in the February shooting, when accused shooter Anthony McRae of Lansing opened fire inside Berkey Hall and the student Union. They include Troy Forbush, who identified himself on social media, and Nate Statly, John Hao and Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez, who were identified through online fundraisers.

Three students — 19-year-old Arielle Anderson, 20-year-old Alexandria Verner and 20-year-old Brian Fraser — were killed. McRae later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound when he was encountered by police.

Some calls yielded little information as the dispatcher’s questions went unanswered but provided a window into the emotional scene as the phone line was filled with the sounds of screaming eyewitnesses, loud bangs and pleas for help.

"I know this is a very scary moment for you, but I need you to talk to me," a dispatcher asked. "Where’s the shooter right now?"

The question went unanswered.

Other callers were remarkably calm. One woman reported she was in room 135 at Berkey Hall with about 30 other students.

“Hi, we’re at Berkey Hall at Michigan State University. There’s an active shooter,” one caller said.

“Where are you inside of the building?” a dispatcher said as multiple calls started pouring into the dispatch center.

“We’re inside the building, inside a classroom at Berkey Hall,” the caller said.

“Are you injured?” the dispatcher said.

“No,” the caller said.

The dispatcher urged the woman to barricade the door and cover the windows until police officers could arrive at the hall.

"Don’t allow anybody inside of the building," the dispatcher said. "Don’t open the door for anybody."

Several callers reported that people were barricading classroom doors. In the aftermath of the shooting, MSU officials have vowed new security measures, including the adoption of classroom door locks and extended hours for the use of key cards to enter buildings on the East Lansing campus.

The calls also reflected the rapid, far-reaching impact of the shooting as eyewitnesses on campus called their parents back home who called dispatchers to determine what was happening in East Lansing.

“My son just called me. He said he’s shot,” one caller said. “So what’s going on?”

One caller asked for help and reported multiple people were shot as she tended to her wounded friend.

One dispatcher pressed for details about the shooter’s whereabouts and asked a caller, who was huddled in the darkened room 114 at Berkey Hall, if she could identify the suspect.

“No. I looked down immediately,” she said, “and I ducked.”

The caller reported there was at least one victim in the room.

Back in room 135, one caller reported students were escaping through windows in the first-floor classroom.

“Are you able to safely get out the window?” the dispatcher said.

“We’re trying,” the caller said.

“Alright, I need you to do that and run as far away from that building as possible, OK?” the dispatcher said.

rsnell@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @robertsnellnews