The gunman who opened fire at a Michigan splash pad, wounding nine people, including two young children, lived with his mother and suffered from mental illness, authorities said.
Police also revealed he may have been planning further attacks before taking his own life during a standoff with police on Saturday.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said there is reason to believe the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills was not the shooter’s only target and that the horrific shooting, which left an 8-year-old boy critically wounded, could have been dramatically worse.
Police quickly tracked the 42-year-old shooter to the mobile home where he lived with his mother.
When they entered the trailer, they found an AR-type rifle on the kitchen table and the shooter dead next to a third gun, a pistol, which he had used to kill himself. Fox 2 Detroit reported.
“We contained him quickly, so it wouldn’t have surprised me if he had something else planned, because it’s not an everyday thing to have something like that on your kitchen table,” Bouchard said.
The handgun used in the shooting, a registered 9mm Glock handgun, was recovered at the scene of the shooting along with three empty magazines holding 30 rounds of ammunition.
Police say the gunman emptied one magazine, reloaded it and emptied a second clip before fleeing the scene.
The suicide gunshot wound occurred during a five-hour standoff with police.
Police said the gunman, who had no criminal history, lived with his mother and reportedly suffered from mental illness. The mother was not at home but was notified of the shooting on Saturday night.
The suspect fired 28 shots into the splash pad around 5 p.m. during the first week of summer vacation for public schools, wounding nine people in total, including an 8-year-old boy in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head and a 4-year-old boy in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the thigh.
The other victim, a 39-year-old woman who suffered a wound to the abdomen, is said to be in critical condition.
The other victims, men and women aged between 30 and 78, were all in stable condition as of Sunday morning. Authorities said some of the victims were members of the same family. According to WXYZ.
Bouchard said authorities were reviewing evidence from the scene, including video that captured the chaotic shooting.
“Based on the evidence that I have seen, it appears that the gunman began firing as soon as he got out of his vehicle,” he said, noting that the gunman was about 20 feet away from the victim, “(and) walked from the base of the stairs, up the stairs, loaded his gun, fired from the top of the stairs in the splash pad area and then left. He did not appear to be in a hurry to leave.”
“He just calmed down and got back in his car. It was a strange situation,” Bouchard added.
Authorities have not said why the splash pad was targeted by the gunman, but say it appears to have been random.
The motive has yet to be determined.
Rochester Hills is located approximately 28 miles from downtown Detroit.
