LANSING, Mich. – Andrea Ferguson’s daughter survived the Oxford High School shooting in 2021 and in her first semester at Michigan State University is now sheltered in place on campus during the active shooter situation.
On Monday, Feb. 13, Michigan State University police responded to reports of shots fired on the East Lansing campus.
At 11 p.m. Michigan State University Police and Public Safety Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman held a briefing confirming five victims were transported to Sparrow Hospital with life-threatening injuries. Later the agency tweeted confirming three fatalities in addition to the five injured.
Read: Police say at least 3 dead, 5 hurt in shootings on Michigan State University campus
After the briefing, Local 4 spoke with Andrea Ferguson, whose daughter is a Michigan State University student and Oxford High School graduate who survived the 2021 Oxford school shooting.
“I never expected in my lifetime to have to experience two school shootings,” Ferguson said. “There’s several kids there that our daughter’s friends with that are going through the same thing.”
She said her daughter was across campus getting on a bus after class when she started getting texts about the shooter.
“She had just ended class and hopped on the bus and went across campus and called me and while we were on the phone, all of the sudden she started getting text messages,” Ferguson said. “It was like reliving Oxford all over again.”
Ferguson’s daughter just started attending Michigan State this semester.
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“Yeah, she hasn’t even been there (a month),” she said. “And as a matter of fact, this week, we’re celebrating her being ten years cancer free, so it was supposed to be a celebratory time.”
She has been in contact with her daughter since she received word of the shooter at 8:40 p.m. and says she is absolutely terrified.
“Oh (she’s) unbelievably terrified, but I have to say, once the reality kicked in, she knew what to do -- and that’s what’s important is that the kids know what to do,” Ferguson said. “It’s really, really surreal to have to worry about this, and to know exactly what to do, I mean, my husband and I both went into action like never before.”
Ferguson’s daughter graduated from Oxford in 2022 and she said they were happy to say goodbye to that year, and they were really looking forward to this school year.
“Now, just another hurdle to get over,” Ferguson said.
Also: Police release photos of suspect in Michigan State University mass shooting