The crazed man who killed three Michigan State University students and critically injured five others Monday sank into a deep depression that made him “evil” after his mother died in 2020, his dad said.
Anthony McRae, 43, had a difficult time handling the loss of his mother, Linda McRae, and his demeanor and outlook on life “changed” after she died of a stroke on Sept. 13, 2020, said his father, Michael McRae.
Police said there is no clear motive for gunman Anthony Dwayne McRae’s violent rampage, but his father described his dark spiral in the past two years in an interview.
“He was a mama’s boy. He loved his mom. They were tight. His mom was like his sister,”
said Michael McRae, who lived with his son in Michigan
The gunman’s brother, also named Michael, told the Detroit Free Press he doesn’t “have a clue” why Anthony shot up Michigan State.
“This just don’t seem real, that he would be able to do anything like this,” Michael McRae Jr., 45, said “I am still trying to process this whole thing.”
He added that he hasn’t spoken to his younger brother since his mom’s funeral more than two years ago, when the brothers had an exchange that was “not good.”
“He stayed to himself,” the gunman’s older brother said. “He kind of secluded himself,” calling him “a loner.”
“I am deeply sorry for this whole thing,” he said.
Police identified Anthony McRae as the suspected shooter in a news conference Tuesday morning.
He opened fire at MSU before leading authorities on a manhunt that ended when he fatally shot himself after a confrontation with law enforcement officials in the adjacent city of Lansing, police said.
Authorities said the shooter’s motive is unknown. He had no affiliation to the university and was not a student or a staff member, said Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the Michigan State University Police.
