Marcy Creevy, a TikTok influencer who boasts more than 300,000 followers on the platform, was one of the many students at Michigan State University who survived the MSU shooting on February 13. Just a few days later, she took to her TikTok account to share a diary entry of her experience that fateful night.
For someone who usually likes to study in the library, she found herself studying in the MSU Union that night because her water bottle broke, and she needed to get a new one. Once she got her new water bottle, she decided to stay in the Union and headed to the second floor to find a suitable study spot.
Moments later, she saw red and blue lights flashing outside the Union and heard a girl running down the hall screaming, “Shooter!” – a word no one ever wants to hear in a safe space, but a word far too many people (especially students) hear in this day and age. That’s when her instincts immediately took over.
“You know how you can hear the fear in someone’s voice? It was just like that – screaming bloody murder. Then I heard a loud hollow noise,” she recalled in her TikTok video. “I still can’t comprehend how it was as if my body knew exactly what to do when all my heart wanted to do was cry, scream, and break.”
Of the three MSU shooting victims, one was shot and killed in the MSU Union – where Creevy was studying that night. Anthony McRae, the gunman who had no known connection to the university, had already killed two others in Berkey Hall before making his way to the Union. Several others were injured.
Creevy wasn’t with any of her friends in the Union, but there were other students in the room she was in. They immediately gathered together, turned off the lights, and hid under a table. “I pulled out my phone, my family – the first people I thought of,” she said but ended up silencing her phone to avoid any noise.
After silently texting her mother and father to let them know she was okay, she did her best to comfort everyone else in the room before standing up and barricading the door with a table. “That’s when I heard a deep man’s voice yelling from the hallway – the shooter,” she continued to recall, her voice quivering.
Marcy Creevy Was Prepared to Defend Herself and Protect Others During MSU Shooting
Marcy Creevy went on to explain how she kept promising the other students in the room that everything was going to be okay and they were going to make it out alive. “I was going to defend as hard as I could. My mom would’ve hated me for that – to defend and fight back instead of thinking extremely tactically.”
She recalled how calm she was – something no one would expect to feel in such a horrific and traumatic experience. Creevy wondered why she could never feel that calm during an exam, a job interview, or a first date. It wasn’t long until she heard banging on the door – it could’ve been a cop, but she didn’t move.
Eventually, she saw flashlights and confirmed that it was the cops who were looking for survivors. When the cops said everything would be okay, she felt she could breathe again. When they made it outside, the cops failed to direct them on where to go – not knowing where the shooter was, they hid in a restaurant.
Despite being with six other strangers, they stuck together – never once thinking about leaving one another’s side. After taking shelter, she struggled to get ahold of her parents until they finally reached out to her. She was thankful for the restaurant workers, who offered them anything they needed at the time.
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Creevy’s video has been seen by more than 5.3 million people and liked by another 800,000+. Her story is just one of many from that night. Our hearts go out to the MSU shooting victims and the many others who were forced into a traumatic experience that no one should ever be thrown into.