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Michigan State professor who saw his students die says returning to class would help to heal

Marco Diaz-Munoz witnessed the gunman kill two of his students and injure five others. He says returning to normalcy could be the key to moving forward.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan State University professor whose classroom was targeted by the gunman on Monday night says he’s ready to go back to class.

Marco Diaz-Munoz witnessed the gunman kill two of his students and injure five others. Some students jumped through windows to escape, while others stayed to help the injured.

Munoz says they became a family that night.  

“I feel the need to go back and teach because I think those kids need me as I need them,” he said. 

“I think we need to be reunited in that classroom. And, you know, slowly ease into learning again. But I think seeing each other will be part of a healing, great part of the healing.”

Classes at MSU are scheduled to resume Monday.  

Professor Diaz says he hopes sharing what he witnessed helps the MSU community helps in the healing process. 

“That it inspires the community to take that same example and unite the MSU family, rather than fragment us and divide us and isolate us," he said.

Diaz wants lawmakers to know exactly what happened in Berkey Hall that night and to put aside politics.  

“No one needs a machine gun to go hunting in the fall. That is irrational,” he said. 

He’s calling on congress to take action to prevent something like this from happening again “and do the right thing. Because if their daughters were in the, in the pool of blood that I saw—Alexandria and Arielle—and I saw them die. If they ever saw that, they would shut their mouths. They would be shamed into signing a change in the law.”

Professor Diaz says he’s been inundated with calls and emails that include students, former students, citizens, activists and the MSU administration, but says he has not yet received one response from a lawmaker.

He also believes this should be a wake-up call for the country to do more to address mental illness. 

“It is just a symptom of the system. The way I feel it is, yes, he became a monster," he said, referring to the gunman.

“He must have been living in a hell inside to be able to cause so much destruction. I cannot even imagine what was in the mind of someone who is at that state of mind. But I think he's symptomatic of what is happening globally. And nationally.”

Watch the full interview here: 

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