By Orlando Mayorquin and Yan Zhuang
A gunman opened fire at a Michigan splash park Saturday in what authorities said was a random attack that left at least eight people injured, including two children, one of whom was in critical condition.
The person thought to be the shooter was later found dead in a nearby home, police said.
The shooting occurred at Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills, Michigan, a Detroit suburb, authorities said. Officers were called to the scene just after 5 p.m.
“It appears to be a random active shooter,” Michael Bouchard, the Oakland County sheriff, said at a news conference.
“It appears like the individual pulled up, exited a vehicle, approached the splash pad, opened fire, reloaded, opened fire, reloaded, left,” he said.
Images shared to social media showed a crowd of police and emergency medical workers surrounding a park. Officials could be seen tending to a person on the wet ground of a splash pad — a children’s play area fitted with nozzles that spray water — as officers moved bystanders away.
Among the injured were an 8-year-old boy who was shot in the head and a 39-year-old woman who was shot in the abdomen and leg, Bouchard said at the news conference Saturday night. Both were in critical condition. Those two people, along with a 4-year-old boy who was shot in the thigh, were from one family, he said.
The remaining victims, including a married couple, were all in stable condition, he said.
A Glock 9 mm handgun and three empty magazines were recovered at the scene, the sheriff said, adding that the gunman fired up to 28 times.
Police used the handgun and other evidence to track the man to a home in nearby Shelby Township, Bouchard said. They tried but failed to communicate with him, and found him dead inside when they eventually entered the home, he said.
On the kitchen table, they found what appeared to be a semiautomatic rifle, the sheriff said, suggesting that “there was probably something else, a second chapter, potentially.”
The shooter was a 42-year-old male, he said, adding that he was believed to have lived with his mother, who was not home at the time. He was apparently undergoing mental health challenges, but had no prior contact with police, he added.
Rochester Hills is roughly 25 miles north of Detroit and home to about 76,000 people.
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