Immokalee student injured at MSU shooting discharged from hospital, continues recovery

A Michigan State University student from Immokalee shared some details of her recovery through statements on GoFundme.com upon her release from the hospital after a Feb. 13 campus shooting left her critically injured.

Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez, 21, provided her first update posted March 23 to the GoFundMe page her sister started.

The mass shooting left three MSU students dead in addition to the five wounded. Killed were junior Alexandria Verner, junior Arielle Diamond Anderson and sophomore Brian Fraser.

"Parts of that night are very clear and others are blurred memories," Huapilla-Perez wrote. "I remember the sound of the first bullet shot."

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She was among eight students shot by Anthony Dwayne McRae. Police confronted McRae on the sidewalk off-campus, who then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Huapilla-Perez wrote that she was afraid her hours before the shooting would be the last time she'd talk to her mother.

At the time, Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez was attending her weekly class, "Area Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: The Americas," in Berkey Hall.

"I don't remember exactly when I got shot, but I remember a classmate holding their shirt to my abdomen area," Huapilla-Perez wrote. "I can't remember the pain of my wounds, but I can remember the pain I felt in my heart seeing this horrible tragedy unfold before me."

Huapilla-Perez said the ambulance ride to the hospital took five minutes, but felt four times as long.

"Time just didn't feel like it was on my side that night," she wrote.

Huapilla-Perez said she was discharged March 13 from the hospital.

"Exactly one month from when I went in," she wrote. "There are challenging months ahead of me, as my wounds require follow up surgeries, making me relive that pain and that moment once again. It is a vulnerable thing to admit, but recovery has been very hard."

Huapilla-Perez said she faces physical, emotional and mental recoveries.

"A day doesn't go by that I don't mourn the loss of Arielle, Alexandria, and Brian," she wrote, adding wishes for them to rest in peace. "I didn't know them closely but it is a painful feeling to live with knowing I shared their last moments with them. Descansen en Paz."

Huapilla-Perez said hearing about classmates' recoveries inspires hers. Four other students were injured and continue to recover.

She also expressed gratitude toward the Michigan State University College Assistance Migrant Program (or CAMP), according to the fundraiser. The CAMP program began in 2000, and for years Immokalee students venture north to East Lansing to receive their college education.

Huapilla-Perez is a junior majoring in hospitality business. She graduated from Immokalee High School in 2020.

"Thank you for taking care of my family - so they could take care of me. Being an out of state student, CAMP is my family at MSU, and that rings truer than ever today," she wrote in a thank-you note to the program.

Huapilla-Perez said she continues her recovery in East Lansing.

"My medical team and family felt I was not yet in a state to travel home to Florida, but I hold out hope for the day I can go home and continue my recovery in the comfort and safety of my family home," Huapilla-Perez wrote. "For now, I only ask that continued privacy is respected for myself and my family. Being out of the hospital feels so vulnerable and I still struggle with feeling safe."

She was shot twice. One of the bullets impacted five major organs, the family said in February.

The family said her wounds largely affecting her stomach area and colon.

The family said the money they hoped to raise was intended to aid their travel expenses to and from Florida, as well as expenses in Michigan, ongoing bills back home and Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez's immediate and long-term recovery.

The Daily News hasn't been able to reach the family for comment.

By Friday afternoon, they had collected more than $478,000.

Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: MSU student from Immokalee pens a thank you; recounts campus shooting