Gunman who shot 9 people — including 2 kids — at Michigan water park lived with mom, may have planned more attacks
The gunman who opened fire at a Michigan splash pad, wounding nine people — including two little kids — lived with his mother and suffered from mental health issues, authorities said.
Cops also revealed that the gunman, identified Sunday as 42-year-old Michael William Nash, he may have planned additional attacks before killing himself during a police standoff on Saturday.
Police say Nash lived with his mother and had no criminal history, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said there’s reason to believe that the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills may not have been the gunman’s only target — and that the horrifying shooting in which an 8-year-old boy was critically wounded could have been dramatically worse.
Police quickly tracked the Nash down to the mobile home he shared with his mother.
When they stormed the trailer, they discovered an AR-style rifle on the kitchen table and the gunman was lying dead next to a third gun, a pistol, which he used to take his own life, Fox 2 Detroit reported.
“Because we had quick containment on him, that if he had planned to do anything else, it wouldn’t surprise me. Because having that on the kitchen table isn’t an everyday activity,” Bouchard said.
The handgun used during the shooting was a registered 9mm Glock pistol, recovered at the shooting with three empty magazines — which would have held 30 rounds of ammunition.
Police say Nash emptied one magazine, reloaded, then emptied a second clip — then fled the scene.
The self-inflicted gunshot wound happened at some point during a five-hour-long standoff with police.
Nash lived at home with his mother and reportedly suffered from mental health issues, police said. His mother was not home but was notified of the shooting Saturday night.
The suspect had unloaded 28 shots at the splash pad around 5 p.m. during the first full week of summer vacation for public school students, injuring nine people total. Among those injured was an 8-year-old with a gunshot wound to the head in critical condition and a 4-year-old with a wound to his thigh in stable condition.
One other victim, a 39-year-old woman with wounds to the abdomen, was said to be in critical condition.
The other victims, men and women ranging in age from 30 to 78, were all in stable condition Sunday morning. Authorities said some of the victims were said to be part of the same family, according to WXYZ.
Bouchard said authorities were combing through evidence from the scene, including video that captured the chaotic shooting.
“It appears based on the evidence that I saw that he started firing once he was out of his car,” he said, noting the gunman was about 20 feet away from his victims. “(And) 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.
“He just calmly walked back to his car. So, a bizarre situation,” Bouchard added.
Authorities have not determined why the splash pad was the gunman’s target, but say it appeared to be random.
A motive has not yet been determined.
Rochester Hills is located about 28 miles from downtown Detroit.
