Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard announced late on Saturday local time that the shooting took place at Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills — about 45km from Detroit.

An “active shooter situation” unfolded, which led police to a nearby home.

It was there that a 42-year-old suspect was “contained” by authorities before the shooter took their own life.

Police fear the gunman could have been planning a “second chapter” after they located a firearm on the kitchen table inside the home.

“That individual was in that house with that weapon and I’m not sure how many other weapons were in that house … it’s still an active scene being processed,” Mr Bouchard said.

“But I believe that because we had quick containment on him that if he had planned to do anything else, and it wouldn’t surprise me because having that on the kitchen table is not an everyday activity that there was probably something else, a second chapter potentially.”

Localreports indicate the gunfire erupted at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills — about 45km from downtown Detroit — around 5pm local time (7am AEST)

Stephen Huber, a spokesman for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, initially confirmed at least five people had been shot.

That figure has now been revised to eight.

“It appears like the individual pulled up, exited a vehicle, approached the splash pad, opened fire. Reloaded, opened fire. Reloaded. Left. So it appears very random at this point,” Mr Bouchard told reporters, adding he believed the shooter had “no connectivity to the victims.”

According to Fox2Detroit, Mr Bouchard said of the eight victims, three were from the same family.
An 8-year-old boy received a bullet-wound to the head and is in critical condition, a 4-year-old boy shot in the thigh, and a 39-year-old woman — believed to be the children’s mother — with wounds to the abdomen who is in critical condition.

The victims have reportedly been transported to multiple hospitals in the area with “varying kinds of injuries”.

Mr Bouchard said two of the other victims were husband and wife. He said of the other five victims — who are all in a stable condition — included a 39-year-old woman with wounds to the back and arm, a 30-year-old man with a right leg wound, a 78-year-old man with an abdomen wound, a 37-year-old woman with a hand wound and a 40-year-old man with a right knee wound.

Mr Bouchard said the community has been rocked by the shootings.

“In my worst nightmare I couldn’t imagine standing up here talking about another active shooter,” Mr Bouchard said.

“This agency has responded to multiple active shooters, multiple mass casualties … This has become all too common in America and in our community.”

It is understood authorities located a handgun and three empty ammunition magazines at the scene, with police alleging that the suspect opened fire “potentially 28 times” from less than 10 metres away.

Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett said the situation was “heartbreaking”.

“This is a great community, and it’s heartbreaking to see this happen here”.

Mr Bouchard said authorities are investigating a motive.

“We are trying to talk to that person without response but we, again, believe he is contained there,” he said prior to the suspect taking his own life.

“A vehicle that matched what had been described as a vehicle leaving the scene was there … We put up a quick perimeter, and deputies on scene apparently heard or saw the individual they are trying to communicate with.

The sheriff said the incident was a “gut punch” given the community was still recovering from a 2021 shooting at a high school in Oxford, which is just 25km from the splash pad, when four students were killed.

– with New York Post

More to come.