Anthony Dwayne McRae identified as Michigan State University shooter

The crazed mass shooter who shot dead three students and left five others in critical condition at Michigan State University was identified as 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae on Tuesday.

The shooter was identified as police confirmed he was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 11.35pm, just over three hours after he first opened fire.

Cops said earlier the killer was not believed to be college-related, and police did not disclose a possible motive in Tuesday morning’s update.

They confirmed that the three killed and five injured were students.

Shots were fired – and students killed – at two locations on the sprawling East Lansing campus, about 90 miles northwest of Detroit.

McRae first began shooting inside a university building called Berkey Hall, where two of the dead were found, before shooting at the Union MSU building, which houses a student dining hall, where a third death has been found.

A survivor told ‘Today’ on Tuesday that the gunman remained silent when he burst through the back door of his classroom and began shooting at the approximately 20 students inside.

Claire Papoulias remembers hearing “three or four gunshots directly behind” her head, immediately falling to the ground as someone shouted there was a shooter.

“At that moment, I thought I was going to die. I was so scared,” she said. told the NBC breakfast showpraising the other students for heroically running to break open windows to help them escape.

During the carnage, she called her mother, Natalie Papoulias, who “heard three gunshots and shouted” some of the gunshots on the other end.

“It was my worst nightmare,” the mother said, saying she felt her legs would give out as she rushed to get into her car to drive to campus.

“I mean, I feel like she literally dodged a bullet.”

Videos posted online showed hoards of terrified students running around campus as officers tried to take control of the chaotic scene.

Following the first report of gunshots, students and school staff were ordered to “secure in place”, authorities said.

On Monday night, University Police sent out an alert warning the campus community to “Run, Hide, Fight.”

Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she called President Biden about the shooting, which she called “a weekly American problem.”

“We’re all broken by an all-too-familiar feeling,” she said, saying, “We can’t go on like this.”

They confirmed having “recovered a weapon”.