(NewsNation) — One Michigan woman likely helped save many lives the night of the deadly Michigan State University shooting after she spotted the gunman and led police to him.
Tabetha Watson lives 10 minutes away from MSU’s campus. She had just put her son down to sleep when she learned about the shooting. Seconds later, while looking out a window, she and her boyfriend saw the suspect walk by and she immediately called the police.
Watson said she had a feeling the gunman would come to her quiet neighborhood, but she didn’t think she’d see him.
“He was just walking right in front of our house,” Watson recalled. “I seen him. His head was down. He had the ball cap hat on. It was so scary; it felt like a dream.”
“I’m constantly looking out the window now,” Watson said. “I just worry for everybody’s safety.”
Police said Anthony McRae was found with two 9 mm guns, dozens of rounds of ammunition and a two-page note when he killed himself Monday night after being confronted by police.
McRae, 43, was the lone shooter and had no connection to the victims or to Michigan State as a student or employee, police said.
While still shaken up about the incident, Watson said she hopes the community has some peace of mind knowing the suspect isn’t walking the streets anymore.
Investigators said they still were trying to pin down a motive three days after the violence at the 50,000-student campus in East Lansing, but the note was a key point.
McRae had a misdemeanor gun conviction in 2019, though it didn’t bar him from having the handguns, which Rozman noted were purchased legally but not registered.
The students who died were from suburban Detroit: Brian Fraser, 20, Arielle Anderson, 19, and Alexandria Verner, 20.
One of the five wounded students was upgraded to stable condition at Sparrow Hospital. The others remained in critical condition but with “signs of improvement,” interim university President Teresa Woodruff said.
Two of the students are from China, according to a statement from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.