Source New York Daily News
The gunman who wounded nine people in a shooting at a Michigan water park was identified Sunday by authorities.
Michael Nash, 42, died by suicide after opening fire at Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in the north Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills.
“In terms of the ‘why,’ I don’t know,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
An 8-year-old boy and his 39-year-old mother remained in critical condition Sunday, the Detroit Free Press reported. The other seven victims were in less serious condition, according to emergency personnel.
Bouchard said Nash “was undergoing some mental health challenges” that authorities were not aware of before the shooting.
Nash opened fire at the water park around 5 p.m., firing indiscriminately at people cooling off on a summer Saturday, police said. Investigators recovered 28 bullet casings from the scene and a Glock 9-mm. handgun. Nash likely reloaded multiple times during his rampage, police said.
“People were falling, getting hit, trying to run,” Bouchard said. “Terrible things that unfortunately all of us in our law enforcement business have seen way too much.”
After the shooting, Nash dropped his gun and drove to the home he shared with his mother, according to authorities. He died by suicide in the residence, next to another handgun and a semiautomatic rifle. Investigators speculated that Nash may have initially planned a “second chapter” to the rampage.
“He’s a loner. The blinds are always pulled over there,” neighbor Kyleen Duchene told The Detroit News.
Nash had no prior criminal history, cops said. He also had no connection to the water park or any of the victims.
“It’s our understanding that he was undergoing some mental health challenges, but no one that we know of was notified,” Bouchard said.
The shooting in Rochester Hills was one of several violent incidents across the country over the weekend. In Round Rock, Texas, two people were killed and at least six others wounded when gunfire erupted at a Juneteenth celebration late Saturday night.
And early Sunday morning in Massachusetts, seven young people were wounded in a shooting at a party in the city of Methuen.
The Rochester Hills shooting occurred about 15 miles from Oxford High School, where student Ethan Crumbley fatally shot four people in November 2021.
“We’ve gone through so many tragedies,” Bouchard said. “We’re not even fully comprehending what happened at Oxford. And, you know, now we have another complete tragedy that we’re dealing with.”
With News Wire Services
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