Pro-gun message on MSU's Rock painted over to honor students killed
EAST LANSING — Two Michigan State University students on Wednesday morning repainted the school's signature Rock with a message honoring the victims of Monday's mass shooting that killed three students and left five others critically wounded.
"To those we lost, to those healing. Brian, Arielle, Alexandria," the Rock now reads.
Rylee Warner, a chemistry junior, and Katrina Groeller, a sociology graduate student, painted over the Rock after a new message appeared overnight, "Allow us to protect ourselves, carry on campus."
Neither Warner or Groeller was willing to comment.
Groeller posted a statement to Twitter. "@michiganstateu I took part in that time honored tradition - even though we broke tradition by (re)painting it during daylight."
In it, she called the pro-gun artwork “wildly inappropriate." The 2017 grad with bachelor's and master's degrees from MSU is hoping to graduate in 2024 with a doctorate. She said she wouldn't be giving media interviews but had spent the majority of her time on campus in Berkey Hall, where the rampage began.
"I woke up this morning shortly after 8am and saw that someone painted over it with a call for an open carry campus. I rose, dressed, and immediately went to the hardware store for paint and made my way to the Rock. There’s a vigil tonight there. Would others really gather at a place with a message that called for more guns on our campus?"
MSU's firearms policy says that "no person shall possess any firearm or weapon" on campus, unless possessed by a law enforcement officer or as permitted by state law regulating firearms.
A gunman not associated with MSU attacked Berkey Hall and the Student Union before being located by police in North Lansing, about 5 miles from campus, and taking his own life.
Scott Iberman, an MSU professor, shared his thoughts on social media about the earlier message.
"A live firefight in Berkey between the killer and another person likely would have led to even more deaths. Hard no to allowing any guns on campus except for law enforcement," he tweeted.
Wednesday's iteration of the Rock is at least the third since Monday night's tragedy.
Following the shooting, the Rock was painted with the question, "How many more?"
By noon, the Rock had been repainted once again.
Cheyenne Jaggers is a masters student for human relations and a 2020 undergraduate who brought a flower to lay beside The Rock on Wednesday.
“I was in classroom 313 on Monday night with 35 other students for three hours,” she said, gesturing across the street to Bessey Hall while her son Shiloh, 2, bounced on her husband Darin Patmon's shoulders.
“It just didn’t feel right not coming back to see it before we have to come back next week,” Jaggers said. “It’s bittersweet. We have classmates, we survived a mass shooting but there are three who didn’t and five who are fighting for their lives. … It feels empty, like our home was stripped away from us.”
Jaggers lives in Grand Rapids and commutes a few times a week for class, she planned to visit her mother, who lives in the Lansing area, after The Rock.
“She just wants to see us, to make that real,” Jaggers said.
Madison Heights muralist Anthony Lee was the person behind the latest artwork. He said didn’t realize so many rows of flowers would be at the base and made an adjustment on the fly to his design: adding in the three names - Brian, Arielle, Alexandria - at the bottom, while above he painted a Spartan helmet with the “Always a Spartan” in the school colors and font.
It was inspired by the earlier version, Lee said.“I hate being here. I don’t take any joy from being here but I am glad art can be of service and do something meaningful for the community but I shouldn’t have to come here for this, no one should.”
A vigil began at 6 p.m. at the Rock Wednesday and thousands turned out. As the vigil began, Lee's artwork still adorned the Rock.
Contact Sheldon Krause at skrause@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @sheldonjkrause and Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or on Twitter @MikeEllis_AIM