MSU mass shooting: Suspect's handguns were legally purchased

Thousands of mourners gathered at Michigan State University's campus Wednesday night to pay their respects to the students who were shot Monday.

School president Teresa K. Woodruff spoke at the event, which included poems, songs and reflections from students and elected officials including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

"We remember and honor the three Spartan students so cruelly taken from their families, friends and us," she said.

"Each came to join the very special, this extraordinary campus."

Whitmer, a Michigan State alum, spoke about the courageous efforts that students and teachers did to help the wounded. She said she spoke to one of the hospitalized victims who told her that a fellow student took off their shirt and used it to put pressure on his wound and save his life.

"Countless Spartans were heroes," the governor said.

Michigan State head basketball coach Tom Izzo said he also visited the hospital where some of the wounded were recuperating and called on the community to keep those victims in their thoughts.

He also urged the campus community to take comfort in their friends and family as they process the violence.

"We all process trauma in a very different way, I'm just glad we're all here tonight," he said.

Michigan State students channeled their grief into protest as they gathered at the capitol in Lansing to urge gun reform.

Hundreds braved cold and windy weather as they sat on the building’s majestic steps and listened to sympathetic and angry speeches calling for legislative action to curb the violence they and students across the nation have been exposed to.

-ABC News’ Andy Fies

Hundreds of people gathered at memorials, prayer services and candlelight vigils across Michigan on Tuesday night to honor the three students who were killed and five others who were injured in Monday's mass shooting at Michigan State University.

More vigils are planned for the rest of the week, including one scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET at The Rock, a 149-year-old landmark on MSU's main campus in East Lansing.

Michigan State University student Dominik Molotky was in class on Monday evening when he heard a gunshot in the hallway, just outside the door.

"I was sitting next to the nearest door and thank god that my fight-or-flight response kicked in because, right when that first gunshot went off, I booked it to the far corner of the class," Molotky, a senior, told ABC News in an interview Tuesday on "Good Morning America."

A couple seconds later, the gunman entered the classroom and fired "three to four more rounds," Molotky said.

"I was ducking and covering," he recalled. "I think one of the students in my class got hit."

When the gunfire stopped for "30 seconds to a minute," Molotky said, he and his classmates started breaking open a window so they could escape.

"There was glass everywhere," he added. "We broke open the window and climbed out of there, and I booked it back to my apartment."

Molotky and other students recounted their horrifying experiences as the mass shooting unfolded at multiple locations on MSU's main campus in East Lansing, Michigan.

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Michigan State student details experience during deadly campus shootingDominik Molotky was attending class on campus when a gunman opened fire on Monday evening.

ABCNews.com