On Halloween night, Saturday October 31 2026 there were a number of crimes resulting in injury in the East Lansing area, two of which were shootings.

Despite these shootings being blocks away from Michigan State University campus, the university did not send out an alert.

The reasoning behind this lack of an alert is the difference in jurisdiction between the Michigan State University Police Department (MSUPD) and the East Lansing Police Department (ELPD). Seeing as these crimes occurred outside of what is legally campus property and it was deemed not to be an active or continued threat to the community, the decision was made not to use the alert system. 

So despite the minimal distance to campus, the lack of arrests or suspects in the shootings, and many students being in the area for Halloween festivities: campus remained without notification.

We are requesting an alert for crimes that occur in Downtown East Lansing and/or  within .5 miles of MSU’s main campus. Particularly when a crime involves a firearm.

If this demand cannot be met, we will alternatively call for an open meeting dedicated to discussing the specifics of the MSU alert system, in which the community can share their concerns and work with campus officials to create a better security plan adapted to the comfort of staff and students.

If there was a tornado going through grand River, directly across the street from campus, the university would not bet on its inability to jump over ELPD and MSUPD’s jurisdictional lines. A person is less predictable. As we saw following the tragedy on February 13, 2023, people can move fast. It would have taken a matter of minutes for any assailant to run on to campus, and yet no formal alert was sent. 

Danger does not recognize or abide by jurisdictional lines. Especially when as of 11/04/26 there are no suspects in custody, there was no promise the campus was safe- especially on one of the busiest nights of the year.

Thank you for reading, and supporting the safety of the many people who consider MSU home.