Several sheriff's deputies in splash pad shooting also responded to mass shootings in Oxford and MSU – The Morning Sun

Lina Portman2 weeks ago

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U.S. Rep. John James, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett speak to the media to provide initial information on a mass shooting in a splash pad on Saturday, June 15 2024. (Stephen Frye / MediaNews Group)

There are a lot of things first responders can't “ignore,” says Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

Many of the Oakland County sheriff's deputies who responded to the June 15 mass shooting at Brooklands Plaza Water Park in Rochester Hills were also at Oxford High School more than two years ago when a student killed four classmates and injured others.

Some of these same deputies also responded to a mass shooting at the University of Michigan last year. Three students died and five others were seriously injured.

“When we have something like this (splash pad shooting), almost everyone goes,” Bouchard said. “There’s a huge overlap” of officers who have also responded to other mass tragedies, he said.

Nine people were shot dead at the paddling pool; three were seriously injured. Police said the shooter then killed himself in his mobile home in Shelby Township.

Bouchard said he recently eliminated a position to add a peer counselor tasked with helping staff “process” the things they see.

Katy Kildee, The Detroit News

Michael Nash, the 42-year-old man who shot nine people Saturday at a Rochester Hills splash pad, lived in this Shelby Township mobile home in Dequindre Estates with his mother, Kathryn. Legal experts question whether the mother could be charged under Michigan law.

This includes not only mass shootings, but also the things they experience every day: car accident victims, child abuse, suicides and much more.

“I think healing is a misnomer. I don’t think there’s ever a cure,” Bouchard said of first responders who witness these incidents repeatedly.

“There are things you can’t ignore. You have to figure out how to deal with it. It's difficult to deal with because we feel deeply for our victims.

He emphasizes to employees that talking about their experiences with a trained listener will not be seen as a sign of weakness and will not affect their career.

“It’s not weakness. That’s strength,” he said.

A peer counselor speaks to nearly 1,500 Sheriff's Office employees, he said.

Other departments of similar size across the country have five to ten such advisors.

Tragedies involving children are particularly difficult for first responders, Bouchard said. Several of the victims at the paddling pool were children.

“It tears you apart on every level,” he said. “I’m so proud of them because they dress up and come back.”

Bouchard said a significant number of staff members — not just deputies — have not been able to return to work since the Oxford shooting.

That includes corrections officers at the Oakland County Jail who had children at Oxford High while a student walked the halls with a handgun, randomly shooting those in his path.

These include dispatchers who “had to talk to people about the worst times of their lives.”

At least one staff member chose to retire from law enforcement after the Oxford shooting, Bouchard said. Circumstances vary for others, some of whom are on disability. Some still hope to return to work.

FILE – Three Oakland County sheriff's deputies inspect the grounds outside the Crumbley residence while searching for James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, Dec. 3, 2021, in Oxford, Michigan . A Detroit-area artist whose studio was where the parents of the Oxford High School student charged in a fatal shooting were found by police is cooperating with authorities and did not know the couple had spent the night, his attorney said Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)