Michigan dad and mom shot seven instances whereas shielding their two kids
A Michigan couple suffered severe gunshot wounds while shielding their two young children from a rampaging gunman at a neighborhood splash park.
Micayla and Eric Coughlin were with their two children, aged 2 and 7 months, grabbing ice cream and heading to the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad when shots rang out around 5pm Saturday.
Within just one minute of arriving at the splash park, the Coughlins started to hear gunfire, according to a GoFundMe set up by their friend.
‘In an effort to save their children, they each grabbed a child to protect them,’ the fundraiser read.
‘Because of their heroic actions, their children were protected and able to go home that evening.’
Micayla and Eric suffered a total of seven gunshot wounds as they heroically saved their children, and are being treated at a local hospital.
Also injured in the attack were Eric and Micayla Coughlin, who were attempting to shield their two young children
Other victims of the shooting at around 5pm in the Detroit suburb of Richmond Hills include the wife of a city employee, who was at the splash pad with 14 family members and friends – three of whom were struck by bullets, Detroit News reports.
The unidentified woman suffered a broken arm and a bullet wound in her abdomen.
‘When I talked to her husband, he was in shock, but he is grateful his family is OK and is focused on supporting them,’ Mayor Bryan Barnett said.
Police have said the oldest victim from Saturday night’s shooting was a 78-year-old man who was shot in the abdomen and is in stable condition, while the youngest was a four-year-old boy who was wounded in the thigh. He is also in stable condition.
The child’s mother, a 39-year-old woman, is in critical condition after being shot in the abdomen and leg, and his eight-year-old brother is also fighting for his life after being shot in the head.
Gunshots rang out at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills on Saturday evening, where eight people were shot in a ‘random’ spree
The gunman rapidly fired 28 bullets and reloaded several times as he opened fire at the family splash pad
A tense standoff ensued after the gunman fled the scene to a nearby home, which ended when police breached the property and found him dead
In total, authorities say gunman Michael William Nash, 42, shot nine people at the splash pad Saturday evening, before fleeing the scene and taking his own life during a tense hours-long standoff with police.
A motive for the shooting remains unclear.
‘In terms of the “why,” I don´t know,’ Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said, adding that the shooting ‘appears very random.’
‘It appears like the individual pulled up, exited a vehicle, approached the splash pad, opened fire, reloaded, opened fire, reloaded, left,’ he said.
The suspect was ‘apparently in no rush. Just calmly walked back to his car,’ he added.
At a press conference late on Saturday, Bouchard said officers were able to quickly track the gunman thanks to a new kind of 911 response system that allows them to listen to 911 calls live instead of waiting for a dispatcher, which allowed one cop to arrive on the scene in under two minutes.
Police said they recovered a 9mm handgun used in the shooting spree, before finding further weapons inside the home as they feared the gunman planned to find more victims
An officer with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department secures the scene of a shooting at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad early Saturday evening
Police found the vehicle at the property where the gunman had fled, and a heavy law enforcement presence – including SWAT teams and helicopters – quickly encircled the home.
Bouchard said they established early contact with the gunman, but communication ceased and after hours of standoff police decided to breach the home.
Cops sent a drone into the home, where they found the gunman dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigators also discovered an assault rifle on the kitchen table of the home, which Bouchard feared would have been used for the ‘next chapter’ of the shooting spree, but the speed at which police surrounded him prevented further chaos.
As victims reel from the tragedy, it was revealed that some heartless scammers are now using the shooting to set up fake GoFundMe pages, tugging on the heartstrings of do-gooders.
Investigators also discovered an assault rifle on the kitchen table of the home, which officials feared would have been used for the ‘next chapter’ of the shooting spree before it was thwarted
Police would later also find the vehicle he allegedly drove to the splash pad with at a property nearby, and sent a drone to the gunman’s home
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard warned do-gooders not to fall for a heartless scam pretending to raise money for victims
One claimed to be set up by the husband of one of the victims, and raised over $15,000 at the time of writing.
It said his pregnant wife was 29 weeks pregnant, and lost her unborn child while her eight-year-old son was ‘fighting for his life.’
But Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard announced on Sunday ‘the site is a complete fraud.’
‘These bottom-feeding scumbags are preying off this tragedy,’ he said in a statement.
‘They have already shown their character.’
The fundraiser has since been removed, and all of the donors have been reimbursed according to a spokesperson for GoFundMe.
‘GoFundMe has zero tolerance for the misuse of our platform and those who seek to take advantage of the generosity of the community,’ the spokesperson said.
‘We have removed the fundraiser from the platform, none of the funds were released to the fundraiser organizer, and all donors have been refunded,’ they continued, noting that they will ‘cooperate with law enforcement investigations of those accused of wrongdoing.’
