Relative launches fundraiser for Rochester Hills shooting victims

Lina Portman3 weeks ago

0 2 minutes read

A GoFundMe page for a family of victims of last weekend's Rochester Hills water fountain shooting has been posted and verified by the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

The page aims to raise $75,000 for the Bebout family, members of whom were seriously injured in the shooting.

The 8-year-old Bebout boy was shot in the head and his 4-year-old brother was shot in the thigh, according to Bouchard.

The 39-year-old mother suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen and legs, the sheriff said.

According to the fundraiser, the father is the sole provider of the family and will be off work for an indefinite period.

Tiffany Holcomb, the organizer of the GoFundMe, is a close relative of the Bebout family.

“I am asking for donations to support the family. Their father is the sole provider for the family and will need to be away from work indefinitely,” Holcomb said in the fundraiser description.

One of the first GoFundMe pages for victims of this incident was for the Coughlin family. The parents of this family suffered a total of 7 gunshot wounds while protecting their children from gunfire, according to the fundraising page.

Coughlin and Bebout's fundraising pages were verified by the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard on Sunday warned residents to be wary of fraudulent GoFundMe pages as some people falsely claimed to be victims of the splash pad shooting.

“These bottom-feeding bastards are preying on this tragedy,” Bouchard said in a statement. “They have already shown their character. We are not aware of any legitimate charities collecting donations for these families. I encourage anyone interested in donating to check with the Sheriff's Office first. If there are any sites legitimate, we will inform the public.”

A GoFundMe page raised money for Kyle J. Johnson, who falsely claimed to be a victim in the shooting, according to the release.

Nine people were shot at a wading pool in Rochester Hills around 5:11 p.m. Saturday after a gunman got out of a vehicle and fired 28 shots from a handgun in a “random” act in the curbside park, Bouchard said.

Sheriff's deputies found the suspect dead that night at a Shelby Township home after police entered the home with a drone, Bouchard said.

The suspected shooter may have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound as police surrounded the home, the sheriff said. Officers on scene did not hear the gunshot.

Lina Portman

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