EAST LANSING, Mich. (KAKE) - It was terrifying for students who were running from where a gunman opened fire inside two Michigan State University buildings. 

"Nobody thinks that it's going to happen to them until it does," said Michigan State Senior Casey Mayes. "I think we all said that last night, multiple times." 

Maeys is a 5th year senior and baseball player at Michigan State, he graduated from Andover High School. He says he was passing by the hall where the deadly shooting occurred about 30 minutes before shots were fired.

"I got home, and we all got the alert. and it was kind of one of those like surreal things, you know, you don't really know what's going on."

Police say 43-year-old Anthony Mcrae shot eight students, killing three before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"We had some of the freshmen in the dorms kind of barricaded up, they're all together in the same room. We had told them to put the dresser in front of the room, you know, close the blinds, don't go near the window, just to be safe."

Mayes says there has been a light in this moment of extreme grief and sadness.

"It was almost instantaneously that that started pouring in, from all over the country, Spartan fans, you know, fans of other schools, people just all over my phone was getting messages left and right and just checking in, seeing if I was doing all right."