A former Grosse Pointe South High School swimmer was one of three students killed Monday night on Michigan State University campus in East Lansing.
Brian Fraser, 20, was confirmed to be one of three students killed in the mass shooting on Tuesday.
Fraser, who was in his sophomore year at Michigan State, previously swam on the Grosse Pointe South High School boys’ team, with his last competition on record coming in December 2019.
The Grosse Pointe South swimming and diving page on Facebook offered the following statement on Fraser’s sudden passing Tuesday:
“Brian had an infectious smile and sense of humor that could light up the pool deck and bring laughter to the entire team. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Fraser family.”
Fraser was also the President of MSU’s Phi Delta Theta chapter.
“Brian was our leader, and we loved him,” a Phi Delta Theta social media post read. “He cared deeply about his Phi Delt brothers, his family, Michigan State University and Phi Delta Theta. We will greatly miss Brian and mourn his death deeply as our chapter supports each other during this difficult time.”
Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity was devastated to learn that Brian Fraser, chapter president of the Michigan Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Michigan State University, tragically lost his life on the evening of February 13.
Full release – https://t.co/DkEZWc4q2h pic.twitter.com/anebeYNB08
— Phi Delta Theta (@phidelt) February 14, 2023
Fraser was studying business at MSU and worked as a lifeguard at the County Club of Detroit in the summer of 2021 before enrolling at the school, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Arielle Diamond Anderson, 19, and Alexandria Verner, 19, were the other two confirmed deaths from the shooting, which reportedly broke out around 8:15 p.m. at Berkey Hall, an academic building, and later at the nearby Student Union.
Diamond Anderson previously attended Grosse Pointe North High School, a 10-minute drive from Grosse Pointe South on the eastern coast of Michigan.
“Earlier this morning, I learned that both Grosse Pointe North and South each have a recent graduate who died from their injuries last night at MSU,” Grosse Pointe Public School System superintendent Jon Dean said Tuesday.
“I can’t even process what I just wrote. How can we have our community impacted in this personal way?”
A total of eight people were shot, with four of the five remaining victims having been taken to Sparrow Hosptial and requiring surgery. They were in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon.
“This truly has been a nightmare we’re living tonight,” said Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the campus police department, according to The Associated Press.
The shooter has been identified as Anthony McRae, 43, who was confronted by police off campus before killing himself with a “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Rozman said.
“We have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight. That is part of our ongoing investigation,” the deputy chief said.
Grosse Point South is the alma mater of a number of elite college and professional swimmers, including the DeLoof sisters, who have represented the US internationally and competed in the professional International Swimming League.
Tuesday also marks the five-year anniversary of the death of former UIndy commit Nicholas Dworet, who was one of the 17 people killed in the Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018.
A visitation for Fraser will take place on Friday, Feb. 17 from 2-9 p.m. at the Veheyden Funeral Home in Grosse Pointe, and his funeral will be held on Saturday, Feb. 18 at St. Paul Catholic Church in Grosse Pointe Farms.
It is sad to how many of these tragedies happen time after time.
Rest in Peace, Brian.
Just horrific. I have no words. Why must this keep happening.
Because we have too easy access to guns the founding fathers never even dreamed about. And a congress owned by the NRA.
I don’t necessarily disagree with your statement, but an equal cause is we don’t enforce and/or have strong enough gun laws on the books. This guy was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit (just like the dude that killed the FB players at UVA) in 2019 and spent no time in jail. You can’t change our gun problem at the same time you are going easy on people who break gun laws.
So should he have been in jail for w/e, 4 years? Coulda been out by now. Forever? Sure, why not. That seems reasonable.
And concealed carry w/o a permit is a crime in what, half of the US? How would that help put these DANGEROUS PEOPLE behind bars there?
It was (and still is) a felony in Michigan. He wouldn’t still be in jail, but he would be a convicted felon which would at least be some sort of deterrence to him having weapons. Instead he just got to live life like nothing happened.
But it’s just sort of a coincidence it happened in Michigan, that’s not predictive of stopping this sort of thing compared to a state where it’s legal anyway.
And I also agree, people shouldn’t be able to get guns. Glad we agree #banallguns
The gunman was arrested already before for illegal possession of the loaded weapon. He got it again anyway. What do founding father’s dreams have to do with it?
It’s a case of weak control of criminal activities.
It is a sad story of young lives cut too short. Bringing politics to it at this moment of grief is simply insensitive.
If it wasn’t a gun he would come with machete as it was near the Times Square or with the knife as it happened in Moscow, ID.
“Knives and guns are the exact same.” -Yozhik
I had a better opinion of you.
Thank you for pointing out that at the kitchen a gun could be most likely a useless thing to keep in cabinets.
lol you ain’t been paying attention.
No, it’s because criminals commit crimes regardless of the laws. The ONLY people following the gun rules at MSU are now dead or injured.
Ah, so the laws don’t help and this’ll keep happening no matter what they are.
So you must be suggesting a full gun ban, dang. That’s bold, but I like where your head’s at.
You’re right: criminals will commit crimes regardless of criminal laws. So the only way to prevent shootings is to prevent criminals getting access to guns… which every other developed country in the world has successfully done.
and in turn kept them out of everyone’s hands except the government. It might not occur overnight, but tyranny is much more likely happen.
If the government comes for you, your AK47 isn’t going to stop them. HTH.
sure is inconvenient that nothing indicates for that to be even half true
The number of downvotes to this comment is pitiful. I hope someone takes all the guns and melts them down.
It’s virtually impossible to legally buy a gun in Mexico and Brazil….seems to really helping the gun violence there. /s
Gun violence is basically non-existent in most developed countries because they have proper gun control. Are you saying the US is more comparable to Mexico and Brazil than to other developed nations like UK, Germany and Australia? If you have to compare your country to countries with notorious violence, crime and corruption to make a point then you’ve already failed.
France, Norway? Are they undeveloped countries?
Low level of gun violence in countries you mentioned is not because guns are hard to obtain. The statics proof doesn’t work the way you use it.
Exactly. It isn’t a question of guns existence, but why they are in demand. Making simply a law on books will have only one immediate consequence: the price on illegal weapon on black market will rise up and that will lead to even more crimes. Same as with narcotics.
*****
There is some tradition at our family gatherings to watch one of Columbo episodes: practically in each episode a gun is a murder weapon. Sure that is a defective movie. But what surprises me is that everybody has it and keeps it everywhere at very casual easy accessible places: at home, in car, in office… is it just Hollywood exaggeration? Has US had same mass shooting problems then,… Read more »
I would go for that. As long as we had all of them from law abiding citizens, criminals and the government. But of course that will never, ever happen.
and he would have been forced to receive mental health assistance.