Police have thwarted a potential mass shooting targeting a Michigan graduation ceremony, according to the local sheriff’s office.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said at a press conference Friday a 19-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the foiled plot, per The Detroit News and WXYZ. Another suspect is still on the run, police said.
On Tuesday, police were called to a graduation ceremony for the Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac. While responding to a report of a fight where the ceremony was being held, instead, police said they ended up foiling a possible deadly mass shooting.
While at the Pontiac graduation, someone told the cops about a Snapchat post they had seen threatening to shoot up the ceremony.
“I believe we probably prevented a mass shooting,” Bouchard said.
The complex’s security and police said two men were involved in a fight which started in a bathroom and moved to the parking lot.
The 19-year-old and a 20-year-old were then seen putting packages underneath cars before leaving, according to Bouchard.
There was a fully-loaded unregistered firearm with a 40-round magazine found in each package, according to officials.
“Just those two weapons, without changing magazines, had 80 rounds of potential firepower,” Bouchard said.
“Shooting into a graduation, you can only imagine the outcome of that,” he added.
A 19-year-old suspect was arrested, but police said the 20-year-old suspect, Jamarion Hardiman, is still on the run.
The graduation ceremony was able to carry on as planned.
The Arts and Technology school said in a statement on Facebook on Friday: “While a brief physical altercation did take place inside the venue, it was quickly handled by staff and security, and those involved were promptly removed.
Thankfully, no one within the ceremony was harmed, and we were able to continue and complete our beautiful commencement celebration without further disruption.”
The school is a 30-minute drive south of Oxford High School, the scene of a deadly 2021 mass shooting carried out by then-15-year-old Ethan Crumbley.
Crumbley killed four students and injured seven others, including a teacher. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December 2023.
His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison. While they were not involved in the shooting, they failed to secure the handgun used in the shooting and failed to act on signs of their son’s mental health issues.
Linda Watson, the mom of one of the victims who was injured in the Oxford shooting, reacted to Tuesday’s incident.
“This is a horrible problem that is still going on that you would think, after a couple of big incidents that we have had in the state of Michigan, one being Oxford, two being Michigan State, that there would a greater level of awareness, and that there would have been some change, some things being implemented, that would have potentially prevented this,” she told WXYZ.
