Michigan State University has agreed to pay a total of nearly $30 million to three students who survived a shooting on campus in 2023 in which three other students were killed, lawyers announced on Tuesday.
The university agreed to pay $14.2 million to Nathan Statly, 23, who was shot in the head during the attack on Feb. 13, 2023; $13 million to Yukai (John) Hao, 22, who was paralyzed after being shot in the back; and $2.5 million to Troy Forbush, 24, who was shot in the chest, lawyers at Grewal Law and Gruel Mills Nims & Pylman said in a news release announcing the settlements.
The settlements came after negotiations between lawyers for the university and for the three men, who had put the university on notice in 2023 about potential lawsuits.
In a statement, the university declined to comment on the specifics of the settlements, but said, “We truly hope reaching a resolution helps provide some measure of relief, support and care to impacted individuals and their families.”
On the night of the shooting, the gunman, later identified as Anthony McRae, 43, opened fire shortly before 8:30 p.m. at Berkey Hall, home to the university’s College of Social Science, and killed two students there, according to the authorities. He then moved to the Michigan State student union, where he killed a third student. The two buildings, which are minutes apart on Grand River Avenue, were unlocked and open to the public.
After a three-hour manhunt, Mr. McRae was found off campus around 11:30 p.m., dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In December 2023, the university reached a $15 million settlement with the families of the students who were killed. The three people killed were Arielle Diamond Anderson, 19, a sophomore from Harper Woods, Mich.; Brian Fraser, 20, a sophomore from Grosse Pointe, Mich.; and Alexandria Verner, 20, a junior from Clawson, Mich. Five other people were critically injured.
All three survivors in Tuesday’s settlements suffered extensive, life-altering injuries, according to their lawyers.
Mr. Statly, who was a junior studying environmental biology and zoology at the time of the shooting, has a traumatic brain injury, and Mr. Forbush, who was a junior pursuing a double major in music education and vocal performance when he was shot, “lost his opportunity for an opera career,” Mick Grewal, of Grewal Law, who represented the two men, said in an interview on Tuesday.
Mr. Hao, who was a junior and studying economics at the time, is now a paraplegic, his lawyer, William Azkoul, of Gruel Mills, said in an interview on Tuesday.
“This settlement makes a world of a difference for all three of these young men,” Mr. Azkoul said.
He added that the three men “have awakened every morning and gone to bed every night with this unresolved sort of dispute, not knowing whether things would come together so they could move forward in their lives, and this gives them the opportunity to do so.”
Mr. Grewal said that the school, “like most universities and most institutions,” initially denied responsibility and claimed governmental immunity, but eventually “did the right thing and just decided to handle this themselves.”
Mr. Azkoul praised all the lawyers involved in reaching the settlements, noting that it took more than two years to resolve the matter without going to court.
It “really helped that Michigan State was well represented by experienced legal counsel that had a desire to do what was best for all parties concerned,” he said. “Not only their own client, but also our clients.”
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
