Butler graduate locked down in dorm during Michigan State shooting
Jonah Doerr is looking forward to returning to Michigan State University on Monday, Feb. 20, to finish his freshman year after he and some friends barricaded themselves in his dorm room for several “scary” hours during a campus shooting Feb. 13 that left three students dead and five others wounded.
Doerr, 18, the son of Lori and Thomas Doerr, a retired Butler County Common Pleas Court president judge, said he feels safe at the campus in East Lansing, Mich., despite the hours of terror in which rumors spread about multiple shooters and gunshots near his dormitory.
About three hours after the first shots were reported at 8:18 p.m., the shooter, Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, was found dead off campus from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Doerr said he, his girlfriend, Ella Marine, his roommate and another friend were in his dorm room doing homework when Marine received a text message from a friend saying there was a shooting on campus.
“At first, we really didn’t think anything about it,” said Doerr, who graduated from Butler Senior High School last year.
He said their initial belief that the shooting had taken place off-campus changed about 20 minutes later when the university sent an alert saying there was an active shooter on campus, telling everybody to stay where they were and to lock their doors.
The group of friends turned on a police scanner to try to monitor the situation, and texts they were receiving from other students contained what turned out to be inaccurate reports of multiple shooters and gunshots within a quarter-mile to a half-mile of his dormitory, he said.
“We just locked the door and barricaded ourselves in the room,” Doerr said. “As it got closer we started to freak out. It definitely got scary.”
Looking back, he said he and his friends were safe. His room is on the fifth floor of the dormitory, and the shooter would not have been able to get there, he said.
Under normal circumstances, the entrance to first floor is left unlocked during the day, and students have to swipe their identification cards to access the dorms on the upper floors. After the first-floor door is locked at 10 p.m., identification cards are needed to enter the building, he said.
“Personally, I feel pretty safe at the campus,” Doerr said.
He said he has no reservations about returning to MSU on Monday and going back for the fall semester to continue his studies. He said he hasn’t decided his major, but is leaning toward communications or advertising.
“I feel safe going back. It could have happened anywhere,” Doerr said.
Marine, who came to Butler with Doerr on Wednesday when his mother picked them up, echoed Doerr’s feelings.
“I was freaking out a little bit. I was trying not to show it, but I was definitely scared,” said Marine, a freshman from Michigan.
She said all roads around the campus were closed and blocked by police and possibly National Guard personnel.
She said she feels safe returning to MSU. She said she usually walks to classes with friends.
“There’s many people around. I feel safe for the most part,” Marine said.
She said she spoke with her family during and after the incident.
‘My family is relieved. They’re happy I’m talking about it instead of being alone. They’re definitely relieved that I’m safe, but they were scared that I was there,“ she said.
Doerr’s parents were “worried, to say the least” at their home in Butler during the ordeal, his mother said.
“He called and let me know. By 8:45 (p.m.) he was talking to us online,” Lori Doerr said.
She and her husband stayed abreast of the situation by watching news reports from Michigan and were relieved when they learned the shooting took place far from Doerr’s dorm.
“It was long night of listening to reports. All of the news was terrifying,” she said. “Me and Tom felt he was safe. He’s on the fifth floor.”
Since the campus was closed for the week, she drove MSU on Wednesday and returned to Butler with Doerr and Marine. She said she will drive them back to school Sunday.
“He absolutely loves it there. He’s been so happy there,” Lori said. “He’s a social kid, and he needs to be with his friends.”
As parents, she said she and her husband will always be concerned for the welfare of their son, but they also realize they can’t live in fear.
“I fear anything can happen at anytime, but I’m not concerned about MSU. The shooter had nothing to do with MSU,” Lori said. “I am so grateful for the Michigan state police and the Lansing police.”
