‘You never think it could happen to you’: RI natives recount deadly MSU shooting

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WPRI) — Michigan State University (MSU) students Declan Wholey and Owen Drolet were hanging out with friends in their residence hall Monday night when everyone started receiving alerts about an active shooter on campus.

The Rhode Island natives spent the next four hours hiding in their room in silence.

“You hear about stuff like this,” Drolet said. “You never think it could happen to you.”

Wholey and Drolet, both 19, said their residence hall was close to where gunman Anthony McRae opened fire in an academic building and the student union, killing three students and critically wounding five others.

“We heard some cops run by yelling ‘hands up!'” Drolet recalled. “But after that, it was just eerily quiet.”

“It was definitely a very scary situation … We all sat down together and just prayed,” said Wholey, who’s the son of WPRI 12 General Manager Pat Wholey.

McRae killed himself miles away from campus soon after he was confronted by police. His motive remains unknown.

Wholey and Drolet were both glued to their phones throughout the lockdown, though both admitted to seeing conflicting social media posts as the situation was unfolding.

“I didn’t really know what to believe and what not to believe,” Wholey said.

MSU canceled classes for the remainder of the week. Both Wholey and Drolet tell 12 News they’re heading back to the Ocean State to spend time with friends and family.

The shooting comes soon after a Rhode Island lawmaker reintroduced legislation to arm campus police at all of the state’s public colleges.

Rep. William O’Brien said his legislation is all about preparing for the worst.

“You can’t just pray it’s not going to happen,” O’Brien said. “When it happens, you need to have armed security. Seconds matter.”

There are only three public universities in the state, one of which already arms its campus police. O’Brien said the University of Rhode Island armed its officers back in 2015.

But both Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island do not require their officers to be armed.