EAST LANSING, Mich. — Students and the Michigan State University community are coming together to support one another after enduring the unthinkable. Business leaders, faith leaders and fellow Spartans are doing what they can to support a community in mourning.
A prayer group gathered outside Berkey Hall on Wednesday, one of two scenes on the East Lansing campus where a suspect opened fire Monday night, killing three MSU students and injuring five more.
"We still want people to embrace each other and love and we think that that's what everyone needs right now, regardless of if you know someone for five months or five seconds," prayer group participant Kinsley McNulty said.
The University was solemn Wednesday, with very few students on campus following the cancellation of all activities for at least 48 hours following the shooting.
Many businesses along the campus's Grand River Avenue were closed out of respect. While some have since reopened, others like Campbell's Market Basket decided alongside their student employees to not close at all, hoping to be a safe haven for their customers.
"You know, I think it's really important for us to rely on our support systems," Campbell's co-owner Perry Kaguni said. "And after the first couple hours being open, and how thankful people seem to be that we're here, we just decided to stay open the whole day and then come back in today and just keep doing it."
The feeling was one of a community working through pain and through grief to support their fellow Spartans and eventually to heal together.
"This is something we all want to work on together, we all need to work on together," McNulty said. "It's not just a matter of get right back into it, like, just back to normal."
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