Michigan shooter Anthony McRae concerned about gun in 2019 arrest

The Michigan State University gunman who killed three students and critically wounded five more asked about keeping his gun when he was arrested for illegal firearm possession in 2019, new video footage shows.

Anthony McRae — who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after opening fire on the East Lansing campus — was arrested on June 7, 2019, when he was busted carrying a loaded Ruger .380 handgun without a concealed weapons permit, the Michigan Department of Corrections said earlier this week.

“Are they gonna take the gun away?” McRae can be heard asking from the back of a patrol car in a body camera video of the incident published by the Detroit News on Wednesday.

The officer transporting McRae to the booking station, whose name could not be immediately confirmed, explained that the firearm would be taken as evidence by the prosecuting attorneys.

In separate body camera footage shared by the Detroit Free Press from earlier in the night, McRae is also seen asking arresting Officer James Zolnai if he “could go to prison” for the pending charges.

McRae did not resist arrest, and was calmly transported to the station, video shows.

Although McRae was initially charged with felony weapons possession, which would have barred him from owning guns in the future, he ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor as part of a deal with the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office.

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His charges were lowered during the tenure of former Ingham County District Attorney Carol Siemon, who was criticized for being soft on crime before retiring at the start of this year.

According to an interview his father did with the Washington Post in the wake of Monday night’s rampage, McRae bought another gun shortly after he completed his probation in 2021.

In an interview with The Post this week, McRae’s estranged uncle, Timothy McRae, argued that police should have monitored his nephew more closely after the 2019 arrest.

“When the cops come in contact with people who shouldn’t have firearms and they have a chance to evaluate them, they should evaluate them instead of giving them probation and putting them back on the street,” he said Wednesday.

Timothy also noted that McRae, a former warehouse worker, struggled with “mental issues,” including what he described as “paranoid schizophrenia” that made him hear voices.

Updates about McRae’s mental state and his previous brush with the law comes as officials continue to investigate the deadly shooting.

The three victims who died in the rampage have been named as MSU students Brian Fraser, Arielle Diamond Anderson and Alexandria Verner. 

As of Thursday morning, five others remain in critical condition in the hospital.

In early January 2023, just weeks before McRae’s deadly attack on the MSU campus, Zolnai had been placed on paid administrative leave after he was involved in the fatal shooting of a suspect, the Detroit News reported.

It is unclear if the investigation into Zolnai’s conduct is ongoing.