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.
Other victims of the shooting at around 5pm in the Denver 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.
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.
He noted in an earlier press conference 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.
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.
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.’