after the school shooting that killed her student there in critically injured five others. tonight, a source familiar with the investigation tells cnn that the shooter had a two page snow in his backpack, referencing a desire for other shootings. officials still trying to determine the motive, they say the shooter did not have any affiliation to the university. now i want to bring and the former head of the fbi active shooter program, catherine she is also a graduate of michigan state university and the author of stop the killing, how to end the mass shooting crisis. catherine, thank you for being here. we re so sorry for what the michigan state community is going through today. we heard about how this huge family of spartans, as you all are known, between parents and alumni and students, it s fast, and you will stay in touch.
to end the mass shooting crisis. you brought something with you today. what s that? i did. i m a spartan. you went to michigan state. i did. go, green. it s so awful. the fbi is assisting the investigation into the suspect. what sort of things do you think they re looking for and trying to uncover as they investigate the motive or try to figure out what happened here? you know, we have a dead shooter, obviously, but the motivation isn t so much the motivation for this guy as it is for us from an investigative standpoint. if we figure out the motivation that prompted them to do it, it will help us to find the next shooter before he strikes. what they re doing is working on, from the moment that guy died backwards in his life to try to figure out what he did, who he interacted with, who might have seen some of the signs beforehand, and pull together all of that detail to find out where he went off on this pathway to violence.
appreciate it. thank you. and joining me now, jim kavanaugh, former atf special agent in charge and former attorney, special fbi agent, head of the fbi s active shooter program, the author of stop the killing, how to end the mass shooting crisis. catherine, the focus now, shifting to motive. it s rare that the alleged gunman of this kind, mass shooting, he s in his 70s. of that community. what does this tell you? it s not uncommon for a 14509er to shoot in his community. we had an 85-year-old shooter at a holocaust museum. that s one of the oldest i dealt with. we hardly ever have a shooter up in this age range.
In an effort to stem mass shootings in the United States, the FBI has been studying for years the phenomenon of "leakage," in which would-be active shooters offer clues.