‘Heroic’ couple struck by hail of bullets while protecting kids at splash pad park, friend says

Micayla and Eric Coughlin along with their two daughters, ages 2 and 7 months, showed up to a Michigan splash pad on Saturday for some treats and fun in the sun.

But that quickly changed.

They grabbed some ice cream and had just walked into the splash pad area when gunshots rang out. According to Noel Wakula, a close friend of Micayla Coughlin, the couple shielded their children from the gunfire. They were hit by a total of seven bullets, he said.

“Because of their heroic actions, their children were protected and able to go home that evening,” Wakula wrote on a GoFundMe page that’s raised over $55,000.

The Coughlins were two of nine people shot at the splash pad park in Rochester Hills, a suburb of Detroit, around 5:15 p.m. Saturday. Two of the victims were children, 4- and 8-year-old boys, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. All the victims survived and are either in stable or critical condition.

Cops identified the shooter as 42-year-old Michael William Nash. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Nash fired a total of 28 shots from a 9 mm Glock, stopping to reload the gun three times. Bouchard said deputies believe the mass shooting was random and haven’t developed a motive. Law enforcement tracked Nash to a nearby home where they found him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a standoff, Bouchard said.

According to Bouchard, cops found an AR-style rifle in the house where he lived with his mother.

“Because we had quick containment on him, that if he had planned to do anything else, it wouldn’t surprise me. Because having that on the kitchen table isn’t an everyday activity,” he told reporters.

A neighbor who has lived next door to Nash for over two decades told local CBS affiliate WWJ that he was a bit of a loner.

“He was just quiet. I keep calling him a kid because we’ve been here 20 years,” said Kyleen Duchene-McDougall. “He’s 42; I don’t know how that happened. But just quiet. He hasn’t worked since COVID. He just stays in the house. All the shades are always drawn. There’s never any blinds or anything open, and he keeps to himself.”

Another neighbor told the Detroit Free Press that she got “bad vibes” from Nash.

As for the Coughlins, their paths to recovery remain long and unknown, Wakula said.

“They are hospitalized and undergoing necessary treatment,” he said.

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