TOLEDO, Ohio — Three students are dead -- Brian Fraser, Alexandria Verner and Arielle Diamond Anderson -- and five are critically wounded after a mass shooting at Michigan State University Monday night in East Lansing, Michigan.
Anthony McRae, 43, was responsible for the shootings, but his motive remains unknown, police said. He had a previous gun violation and no known connection to the school or any of the students he shot. He fatally shot himself miles away from MSU's campus during a confrontation with police after a three-hour-long manhunt.
The shockwaves felt from the shooting come after dozens of others have been killed in mass shootings across the U.S.
Its impact can be felt at the University of Toledo, too. Like many other schools across the country, UToledo uses the "Run, Hide, Fight" protocol, the same one MSU uses.
Officers have been trained for an immediate response, and students and faculty are instructed to run and hide from harm. And if they must, fight.
Some UToledo students say that protocol may not be enough, as fears of a similar situation happening are palpable. Caitlin Schneider, a UToledo senior, said the MSU shooting has completely re-contextualized walking around campus.
Schneider was walking to her car late at night Monday on UToledo's campus. The shooting at MSU began around 8:30 p.m.
"I could have been out at the same time this happened and that's terrifying," Schneider said.
Jeff Newton, UToledo's vice president of public safety, said preparation for a shooting on campus is a daily endeavor, a tragic byproduct of what Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said is "a uniquely American problem."
Newton said he feels confident in UToledo's safety plan, which consists of two elements: how area police departments are trained to respond and how the students and faculty on campus are trained to respond.
"You want a police department that can respond quickly and effectively, and a community that can be safe, buy time and take actions that will help them survive an active shooter situation," Newton said.
Despite a plan in place for a potential shooting, the fears of some UToledo students are not alleviated.
"I feel like Toledo really lacks the security here on campus," Schneider said. "You see police driving by but you never see them walking around."
Another UToledo student said she doesn't know how to contact UToledo's police department.
Schneider and UToledo sophomore Eva Rowley said preventative solutions for mass shootings became the conversation topic of the day on campus.
Rowley suggested some form of security clearance when entering campus.
Schneider suggested security guards or police walk around on campus "instead of driving around the border of campus in their cars."
However, Newton said as a public university, an open-access environment at UToledo is part of the deal, so gates and added security are unlikely. But, he said UToledo's administration and police are always looking at adding additional security measures to keep students safe.
WTOL 11 also reached out to Bowling Green State University to learn about how its students are prepared for shootings. BGSU Safety Director Michael Campbell said the school uses a similar protocol to "Run, Hide, Fight": ALICE, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.
In an active shooter situation, a text is sent out to all students and faculty as soon as a threat is determined, instructing them to lock down and barricade classrooms while a response team mobilizes to neutralize the threat as quickly as possible.
Once an all-clear is given, students and faculty are able to move to pre-planned off-campus safety sites.
Like "Run, Hide, Fight," ALICE is used on many college campuses across the U.S., as well as in many K-12 schools.
Campbell said BGSU students watch a video reinforcing the program at least once a year.
He also encourages the public to remain proactive, so the active shooter protocols hopefully never have to be used in a real-life situation.
"Anyone within our community, if they're recognizing things or seeing things that maybe are concerning or suspicious, I always encourage them to reach out to us," Campbell said. "Or if they don't want to reach out to us directly, at least reach out to the university in hopes that we can take steps to mitigate or monitor a situation."