Police search for motive after apparent ‘random’ shooting at Michigan recreation center wounds at least 9

Police are working to obtain a search warrant on a home where the suspect is contained and looking for a motive after at least nine people were shot in what appears to be a ‘random’ shooting at a recreation area in Rochester Hills, Michigan, on Saturday, authorities said during a news conference.

Police are looking for a motive after at least nine people were shot in what appears to be a ‘random’ shooting that sent panicked families fleeing a crowded recreation area in Rochester Hills, Michigan, Saturday afternoon, authorities said. A gunman pulled up to the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad, got out of a vehicle and opened fire roughly 20 feet away, reloading multiple times, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. The suspect fired “potentially 28 times,” the sheriff said. “Under no circumstances is it normal for ice cream cones and flip flops to be strewn amongst blood and bullet casings,” said Michigan Rep. John James at a press conference Saturday night. The suspect, a 42-year-old man who has not yet been named by authorities, was found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at a nearby home after police tracked the weapon from the shooting to an address half a mile from the crime scene, Bouchard said at a news conference Saturday night. The victims, including two small children and their mother, were injured in the shooting and taken to four local hospitals with “varying kinds of injuries,” according to Bouchard. “When I got on scene, I started to cry,” said Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett Saturday night. “Because I know what a splash pad is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be a place where people gather, where families make memories, where people have fun and enjoy a Saturday afternoon and it wasn’t today.”