Two MSU students have returned to Toledo after being on lockdown for more than four hours Monday night while an active shooter was on campus in East Lansing, Michigan.
HOLLAND, Ohio — “I always lock my door at night, but I never lock my door because I think a killer is going to come in and kill me,” Michigan State University freshman Gabby Gill said.
Four hours of terror Monday night on the MSU campus continues for two East Lansing College students from Toledo.
They left campus a few hours later a mass shooting that left three dead and seriously injured five. They are still not shocked by the violence.
Gill, a graduate of Notre Dame Academy, was in her dorm with a couple of friends when they received the “Run, Hide, Fight” alerts from MSU.
She said it’s hard to put into words the rush of mixed emotions you feel when a shooter wreaks havoc on a college campus.
“We just barricaded the door, turned off all the lights and locked ourselves in the bathroom,” Gill said. “We immediately pulled out our computers and turned on the police scanner. We stayed in the bathroom for four hours.”
Even after police gave the all-clear, Gill and her friends stayed at the dorm for another 45 minutes before packing up and driving back to Toledo.
Her friend, Zach Moon, a graduate of St. John’s Jesuit Academy, was at his fraternity house about half a mile from campus preparing for an exam when the shooting started around 8:30 p.m.
Moon said his adrenaline was so high that he could only accept one thing: stay alive.
“I wasn’t impressed. I was like, what, is this happening right now?” he said. “So I just followed everybody. I never would have expected that to happen in my lifetime.”
Both Gil and Moon said it was the scariest night of their lives.
Amid the chaos Monday night, Gill’s mother, Jennifer, tried to keep her and her daughter calm.
But that’s hard to do when you’re two hours away.
“It was really hard not to get in the car and drive over there,” Jennifer said.
Now that her daughter is home, she is grateful. But her daughter’s safety did not completely relieve her worries.
“I’m angry that they had to go through this,” she said. “It just makes me sad and angry, I have so many emotions going through my head. I am relieved that my baby is okay.’
Gill and Moon said they never imagined they would be faced with a situation as violent and frightening as Monday.
“Our campus is gigantic,” Gill said. “I live quite far from the main strip, so I always feel safe when I go back to my dorm and hang out with my friends. I’ve never felt unsafe.”
MSU canceled classes for the rest of the week, but Gill and Moon said they are still nervous about returning and worried that returning to campus could cause injury.
https://www.wtol.com/article/news/local/michigan-state-university-students-campus-shooting-chaos/512-e70d9a4a-7a30-42c0-9c66-56c1e77f5aa3
