At least nine people were injured, including two children, during a mass shooting on Saturday at a recreation center in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Police said the suspected shooter is dead.
Around 5:11 p.m., first responders were notified of the incident at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad.
By the time police responded, the shooting suspect had fled.
The shooter was approximately 20 feet from the victims when he opened fire, according to investigators. The shooter reportedly unleashed 28 shots at the recreation center.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said during a Saturday night press conference, “It appears the individual pulled up, exited a vehicle, approached the splash pad, opened fire. Reloaded. Opened fire. Reloaded. Left. It was very random. At this point, there is no connectivity to the victims.”
However, the suspect reportedly left a 9mm Glock handgun and three empty magazines at the crime scene.
“The one weapon on scene led us to the address that was registered to that address, which is why we got so quickly to the home,” Bouchard said.
Police tracked the alleged shooter to a residence in Shelby Township – about a half mile from the crime scene.
Law enforcement was unsuccessful in making contact with the suspected shooter in the home.
“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,” Bouchard stated.
Officers then breached the residence, and drones were deployed to assess the situation inside the house.
The suspect is believed to have committed suicide inside the home.
Police said, “We located the individual deceased in the home.”
Bouchard said there was another weapon on the kitchen table inside the home, which appeared to be a semi-automatic 223.
Police have yet to identify the 42-year-old male shooting suspect. He allegedly lived with his mother.
Of the nine shooting victims, two are children. An 8-year-old boy is in critical condition after suffering a gunshot wound to the head. A 4-year-old sustained a wound to the thigh and is said to be in stable condition.
The 39-year-old mother of the boys was shot in the abdomen and leg; she is also in critical condition.
The six other shooting victims – three women and three men between 30 and 78 years old – were reportedly in stable condition.
Sheriff Bouchard said the shooting is a “gut punch” because the community is still reeling from a high school shooting that killed four students in nearby Oxford that happened in 2021
“We’re not even fully comprehending what happened at Oxford, and now we have another complete tragedy that we’re dealing with,” he explained. “In my worst nightmare, I couldn’t imagine standing up here again talking about another active shooter.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!