Screenshot: WXYZ-TV Detroit/Youtube
A peaceful Saturday afternoon at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills, Michigan, turned tragic when a gunman opened fire, injuring nine individuals, including two children, before ultimately taking his own life during a police standoff.
The suspect, armed with multiple firearms, including a handgun and a semi-automatic rifle, exited his vehicle and began firing at random people.
According to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, the assailant, later identified as a 42-year-old local resident, fired 28 rounds from a 9mm Glock semi-automatic handgun.
“He is a White male, 42 years old, believed to have lived with his mom. She was not home. She has been notified. It’s our understanding that apparently he was undergoing some mental health challenges, but none that we’re aware of or were reported,” said Bouchard during the press conference.
Bouchard said that the assailant reloaded his weapon twice during the attack, leaving behind three magazines at the scene, along with numerous shell casings.
“He started firing once he was out of his car from the base of the steps, climbing the steps, reloading, and then was firing from the top of the steps in the splash pad area before he left, and appeared to leave in no rush. Just calmly walked back to his car. So it’s a bizarre situation,” said Bouchard.
Bouchard clarified that one victim had been double-counted due to a hospital reporting error. Among the victims were two young boys from the same family: an eight-year-old critically injured with a gunshot to the head and a four-year-old shot in the thigh but in stable condition. A 39-year-old woman, related to the boys, was also critically injured with multiple gunshot wounds.
A 30-year-old female with thigh and buttock injuries. A 30-year-old male with a leg wound, a 78-year-old male with an abdominal injury, and a 37-year-old female with a hand wound, all are reported stable. Additionally, a 40-year-old male with a knee injury is also in stable condition.
The suspect was later found dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a home in Shelby Township. Sheriff Bouchard noted that the police had attempted to communicate with the gunman, who responded but never fully engaged in dialogue.
“We believe within 45 minutes to an hour, we had containment on a home which ultimately had the suspect inside. Contact was made. There was some, I wouldn’t call it communication, but at least an acknowledgment that the person was in that home, and we had that person contained. We set a hard perimeter on it,” Bouchard said.
“We brought in assets including our SWAT, our helicopter, our drones, and tried to make contact with the person, tried to bring that person out peacefully, and to no avail. Had no contact back. After a period of time, we breached the home and deployed drones to begin an examination of the home to make a determination if it was still a hostile actor, and we located the individual deceased in the home,” he added.
WATCH:
#BREAKING: Numerous Law enforcement along with SWAT has surrounded a mobile home where the shooter Suspect is to believe to be located after shooting up 9-10 people including children ⁰⁰#Rochesterhills | #Michigan
⁰At this time, there is a heavy emergency response as… pic.twitter.com/qehgz2ra4S
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) June 16, 2024
Inside, authorities discovered additional firearms, including a handgun and an AR-platform rifle conspicuously placed on the kitchen table, suggesting potential plans for further violence.
“He didn’t have just a handgun on that particular endeavor. He had, obviously, what looks to be an AR platform and is still being processed, so I’m not sure if I had to guess. I would say it’s a semi-automatic .223, but I don’t know for a fact until that scene is processed.”
“But what I do know is that the individual was in that house with that weapon, and I’m not sure how many other weapons were in that house. Again, it’s still an active scene being processed. But I believe that because we had quick containment on him, that if he had planned to do anything else, and it wouldn’t surprise me because having that on the kitchen table is not an everyday activity, that there was probably something else, a second chapter potentially,” said Bouchard.
The sheriff confirmed that the suspect had no prior criminal history and had not previously interacted with local law enforcement.
Watch the full press conference below:
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