TOLEDO, Ohio — More than 100 people stood in solidarity Monday with Michigan State University students, one week after a mass shooting killed three at the college's East Lansing campus.
"A lot of people are just so numb to what's happening all over the country," UT student body president Colleen Palmer said.
Palmer said vigil organizers and attendees were acutely aware of the fact that the shooting could have happened on UT's campus, too.
"Events like this open your eyes to something happening anywhere," Palmer said. Whether you're on a college campus, going to a concert, it's just part of our world now."
It's not fair, but it's become something students have to be prepared for, she said.
For some UT students, the shooting at MSU hits closer to home than other recent shootings. It happened less than two hours away, and some UT students knew victims of the shooting.
Greta Fobare, a junior at UT, was friends with Alexandria Verner.
Verner, an MSU student, was killed in the shooting along with fellow MSU students Brian Fraser and Arielle Anderson.
Fobare knew Verner as Alex, a close friend and then a teammate on her softball team at Clawson High School in the Detroit metro.
"(Alex) was always my role model," Fobare said. "She was a leader in everything she did. We were able to graduate together. I just have so many good memories."
She never imagined she would lose her friend to a mass shooting.
"Al, I miss you and I love you. Let's hit dingers and get ice cream from the Dairy-O the next time that I see you," Fobare said.
Alex had such an impact on her life and she says she's sad that other people won't be able to know what an amazing person she was.
"She was such a bright light, not one that was the center of attention, flashy or anything like that," Fobare said. "I would say a more comforting light, very bright. She had such an amazing future ahead of her."