The death of Dominique Nolff shook the MSU community, and especially those who knew him personally. He was close with my roommate and several other people I met in Brody Complex last year, where we all lived.

Ten days later, we still know very little about the events of that night. As I write this, the shooter has not been caught or even identified. We don’t know the shooter’s motives or the details leading up to Dominique’s death.

A friend of Dominique submitted a guest piece to The State News last week, expressing outrage about how the university handled the situation. I hadn’t thought about it previously, but it’s been a week-and-a-half since the shooting and the only word we have from the university is a Facebook post confirming that MSU is working with the East Lansing Police Department.

We live in an age where mass shootings are becoming the norm. On April 16, 2007, a Virginia Tech senior by the name of Seung-Hui Cho killed 33 people and wounded 17 others by gunfire. On February 14, 2008, Northern Illinois alumnus Steven Kazmierczak killed five people and injured 21.
The mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and Century movie theatre in Aurora, Colo., most recently stand out, although they did not take place at a university.

The shooting in East Lansing possibly could have been a lot worse.

The emergency alert text sent by MSU on the night of Dominique’s death did not warn students to stay indoors. It merely stated that a shooting occurred at 8:45 p.m., listed the suspect’s appearance and provided a number for witnesses to contact ELPD. No lockdown took place.

Without knowledge of the shooting, as I am not on the emergency contact list, my only information of the shooting came from those who updated Twitter with warnings. It was only a rumor to me at that point. I went to a party that night. Many students did.

The 200 block of Cedar Street is closer to the center of campus than Brody Complex, for instance. The text message alert came at 11 p.m. The shooting happened more than two hours before.
We’re lucky the shooter did not go on a rampage, because many other students could have lost their lives that night.

Still, I can’t shake the feeling that more should have been done.

Because the apartments where it took place are so close to campus, why wasn’t the matter treated as an on-campus shooting?

Commenters on last week’s submitted story pitched a few conspiracy theories. I don’t want to go there.

But students deserve an explanation. Dominique’s death should not be swept aside. What are MSU’s policies regarding a shooting? Why weren’t students warned sooner? In hindsight, it seems a bit irresponsible.

Omari Sankofa II is minority representative for the State News editorial board. Reach him at osankofa@statenews.com.