At least 8 shot with child, 4, among victims in Rochester Hills mass shooting as active shooter opens fire at splash pad
EIGHT victims have been shot at a park in Michigan after a gunman opened fire at a children’s splash pad, according to cops.
An 8-year-old is in critical condition and a 4-year-old is also being treated for injuries after the shooter fired 28 rounds at Spencer Park in Rochester Hills.
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The shooter died by suicide after being cornered by a SWAT team in nearby Shelby Township, about a half-mile from the park.
Hours earlier, the suspect pulled up to the park, got out of his car, and started shooting toward the splash pad, seemingly at random, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
The gunman reloaded several times as the carnage unfolded at the busy park at around 5:15 pm.
“One of our sergeants from Rochester Hills was actually listening to a new technology we deploy called Live 911,” the sheriff said.
“He heard the call come in before it was even dispatched and immediately self-directed himself to this. He was on scene within two minutes.”
Bouchard initially estimated there were nine or 10 victims in his first news conference about the shooting.
Later in the night, he said eight people were hit by gunfire, including three members of the same family and a husband and wife.
An 8-year-old boy was shot in the head and left in critical condition while his 4-year-old relative was hit in the thigh.
A 39-year-old woman related to the two children was also in critical condition.
Six others were rushed to the hospital with injuries.
SHOOTER SWARMED BY COPS
Cops recovered a 9mm Glock semi-automatic handgun and magazines from the park.
Police were able to track down the shooter by tracing the vehicle at the scene to the nearby home.
They brought in SWAT teams and sent drones inside the house, which helped them determine the shooter turned the gun on himself.
The sheriff didn’t name the gunman in an 11 pm news conference but said that law enforcement had no previous run-ins with him.
He was in his 40s and lived with his mother, who has been notified about the mass shooting, Bouchard said.
“In my worst nightmare, I couldn’t imagine standing up here talking about another active shooter,” Bouchard said.
The latest mass shooting happened just 20 miles from where a school shooter killed four classmates in 2021.
“It’s a gut punch, obviously, for us here in Oakland County,” the sheriff said earlier in the night.
“We’re not fully comprehending what happened at Oxford and now we have another complete tragedy that we’re dealing with.”
The city-run Spencer Park is located in Rochester Hills, which is roughly 24 miles north of Detroit.
Video from the crime scene showed multiple people being carried away on stretchers from the splash pad.
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People who live near the park got an alert on their phones which read, “Oakland County Sheriff: Active shooter located near Spencer Park in Rochester Hills. AVOID area and SEEK shelter.”
One witness shared a video of cops and paramedics caring for the wounded as crime scene tape blocked off the splash pad.
‘I STARTED CRYING’
Parents clung to their kids in the footage as someone was rushed away on a stretcher.
“A mass shooting at a water park in my neighborhood of Rochester Hills. I started crying,” the witness wrote.
“Whoever did this shooting is not caught and running in my neighborhood.”
Another person said their father was among the injured.
“My dad was just rushed via ambulance to Troy Beaumont,” they wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“We were not allowed into the hospital parking because they are on lockdown. Police blocking all entrances. We called and they won’t give us information on my dad because of the active shooter situation.”
Other locals shared their horror on social media.
“They shot up a splash pad where little kids play,” one person wrote on X.
Another person who appeared to be in the area wrote, “Shooting at Spencer Park in Rochester Hills. Road around is blocked off by police.
“Stay aware and careful if going by. This is heartbreaking.”
And a third person said, “What has this world come to!!OMG! At a splash pad!!”
ROCKED BY TRAGEDIES
The scene of Saturday’s mass shooting is 20 miles from Oxford High School, where Ethan Crumbley shot and killed four students in 2021.
Tate Myre, 16, Hana St Juliana, 14, Justin Shilling, 17, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, died in the shooting and seven others were wounded.
Ethan, who was 15 when he gunned down his schoolmates, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.
His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were also charged in connection to the shooting and sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
They are the first parents of a mass school shooter to be held criminally responsible in the United States.
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