In the early morning of April 18, 1981, 19-year-old freshman Edward R. Siwik of Livonia was shot and killed in a sixth-floor hallway of Bursley Hall, a University of Michigan dormitory in Ann Arbor. The pre-med student, who served as his floor’s fire marshal, was helping to wake and evacuate residents after a fire alarm when the shooting occurred. A Molotov cocktail had been thrown into the corridor, triggering the alarm and smoke.

The shooter, 22-year-old psychology major Leo E. Kelly Jr., opened fire with a sawed-off shotgun. Another student, 21-year-old senior and resident advisor Douglas C. McGreaham, was also killed. Police arrested Kelly in his room without a struggle; friends described him as a quiet loner who had struggled academically. Kelly was charged with the murders, his defense announced plans to pursue an insanity plea, and he was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. No explanation for the attack was given by Kelly, who said he had no memory of that morning.