ROCHESTER HILLS (WWJ) — Police are still working to determine a motive behind the mass shooting at a Rochester Hills splash pad on Saturday that left nine people injured, including two young children.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said at a Monday afternoon press briefing while no motive has been uncovered, information from a family member suggests the shooter, identified as 42-year-old Michael William Nash of Shelby Township, was struggling with mental health and exhibited signs of paranoia.
Bouchard said not a lot has changed regarding the victims’ conditions. Two people are still in critical condition, while two victims have been released — a 37-year-old woman and a man in his late 70s. Another victim, a 39-year-old woman, could potentially be released on Monday.
The 8-year-old boy has made “amazing progress,” according to Bouchard, but he remained in critical condition, along with his mother,
Bouchard said there is “still not a lot to tell you about motive,” as investigators continue to look into what drove Nash to open fire late Saturday afternoon at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills.
Nash was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound late Saturday night after police had him “contained” in a mobile home where he lived with his mother.
Bouchard told reporters Monday police recovered a total of 12 guns — one at the scene that helped police track him to the nearby home and 11 at the home. The weapons recovered at the mobile home included one Glock handgun that he also had at the scene, along with various shotguns, bolt action and lever action rifles, as well as an assault-style rifle that was found on a dining room table.
The gun recovered at the scene has been determined to have been bought legally in 2015, but authorities are still working to determine when, where and how he acquired the other weapons.
Police previously reported 28 shell casings were recovered at the splash pad, but further investigation, including the use of K9 units, led to the recovery of six more. Bouchard said Monday 36 total shots from three magazines were fired.
With the array of weapons, including one that was readily sitting on a table, Bouchard said investigators believe Nash may have been planning a “second chapter” or he may have been prepared to have a shootout with police.
While no “written pen-to-paper manifesto types of things” have been found, authorities seized a phone, a table, a MacBook Pro, two PC towers, four thumb drives and two external drives, according to Bouchard.
“We’ve already got into the phone and found nothing of interest or corroborative information as it relates to motive or what set him into motion,” Bouchard said.
Bouchard said investigators don’t have a lot of information about Nash, but “it appears he had been musing about different things, saying ‘shut your phone off,’ ‘we’re being watched,’ and ‘they are listening to us.’”
The sheriff said that’s what investigators were told by Nash’s mother during while the scene was unfolding. The mother, who is out of state, has since retained legal counsel and police have not talked to her since, according to Bouchard.
The mother told police Nash was “walking around the house with weapons” and talking about “them” listening to him and talking about “how the government was tracking him,” Bouchard said. The sheriff noted he is "not aware of" any other family members who may have information on the shooter.
It was not immediately clear if the comments about being listened to were directly related to Saturday's shooting. Authorities will know more once the devices recovered from the home are analyzed.
“Clearly, it appears to me, as a layperson, he’s had some mental health things going on. And at this point we still have no information that was brought to anyone’s attention,” Bouchard said. “That’s the other message. If you know someone that’s struggling, try to get help. Loop in people, talk to a mental health professional or your local public safety so that they’re aware and can maybe get you some resources or direct you.”
Bouchard said in the 25 years he has dealt with and studied mass casualty shootings — including the Oxford High School Shooting in 2021 — in virtually every case, “someone saw something and it wasn’t robustly shared.”
“Someone is almost always in a position to know and see something and it doesn’t get shared in a complete circle that includes public safety and mental health professionals. That’s how we get in front of these things,” Bouchard said.
Oakland County is offering mental health resources throughout the week for victims of the Rochester Hills shooting and those who were present at the splash pad. Those resources can be found on the county’s website.
“I can't bang the drum enough about mental health," Bouchard said.
The gunman's neighbor at the Dequindre Estates mobile home park told WWJ's Charlie Langton Nash was "pretty much a loner."
"Honestly, I didn't know him. I've seen him drive by, he never smiled, he never acknowledged anybody," Angela Parker said, noting his mother also never came out much and was "not one to socialize with neighbors."
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest updates as they become available. >>> LISTEN LIVE!