EAST LANSING, Mich. – Memorials were popping up all across Michigan State University Tuesday, remembering the tragic moments from Monday night’s shootings.
Flowers were all over the MSU campus, and not for Valentine’s Day, but for one of the saddest days the school may ever see.
Senior Rakan Al Alotaei is about to graduate with a degree in criminal justice. He’ll never forget hearing those gunshots that took lives and forever changed lives.
“Screaming, running, everyone running for their life,” Al Alotaei said. “Doing the drills we practice for. It’s unpleasant.”
Rabbi Bentzion Shemtov was teaching a class when those shots rang out. The community has plans for moving forward, but how?
“One step at a time, one good deed at a time, one phone call at a time, one conversation at a time,” Shemtov said. “Be there for each other.”
But the feelings of students at the moment are of shock.
“You can’t live in fear,” said MSU freshman Ben Lascola. “You have to keep your head up.”
Read: ‘Spartan Strong’: 5 Michigan State students in critical condition after mass shooting on campus
Al Alotaei’s feelings are to add to the flowers, not the fear.
“Make me process my emotions,” Al Alotaei said. “Honor the victims. The deaths that happen. This will not define us. We will come back stronger.”
“Dear Spartans and friends, today we are in the numbing wake of last night’s shootings on our East Lansing campus. It is hard to utter, let alone process, words about the loss and critical injury of our students. My heart hangs heavy. But I come to you to speak of our experiences as we struggle together with our next steps as a community.
“The board and I extend our hearts, first and foremost, to the families and loved ones of those we lost. Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, ‘There is no grief, like the grief that does not speak.’ We pause in this moment to turn our thoughts to those struggling to recover from their wounds, and offer thanks to Sparrow doctors and nurses who, at this hour, are working to comfort and to heal.
“I also join the gratitude of many for the hundreds of law enforcement and first responders, who answered our call, tended to the injured, kept the community informed, and brought the incident to an end.
“Gratitude as well to our community, who heeded the calls to stay in place, and for the caller who helped bring this horrific incident to an end. I am grateful for the words of condolence and solidarity from our local community and people across the state. Government leaders, including Governor Whitmer and President Biden, and colleagues in colleges and universities in Michigan, the Big 10, and beyond.
“I am heartened by the comfort sent around our Spartan nation in texts and emails, and social media, and impromptu vigils on other campuses, in the flowers laid at the base of our iconic Spartan statue. And in the words painted this morning on our campus rock, ‘How many more?’
“Grief is a profoundly personal thing, and we know the healing process will not be swift. We must take time to think, mourn and be together. I encourage everyone to honor their feelings and find comfort and solace in the close bonds that knit together our Spartan family. To offer time for healing to begin, MSU has cancelled classes for the rest of the week.
“Counseling services are being provided to students, faculty, and staff through MSU programs and also through regional and community providers. A candlelight vigil will be held Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the rock. In this most difficult time, I hold our grief and our strength in my head and my heart. And I claim our campus for our MSU community so that when from these scenes we wander, and twilight shadows fade, our memories still will linger where light and shadow played.”
MSU Interim President Teresa K. Woodruff